PM urges world to play role against Islamophobia: Pakistan tells Sweden to act against desecrator

A joint session of the Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution urging Sweden to take “appropriate steps” against perpetrators involved in the recent incident of the Holy Quran’s desecration in Stockholm. The incident took place last week when a man, who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago, tore up and burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque on the first day of Eidul Azha there. The act has drawn strong criticism from several countries, including Pakistan, Turkiye, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq and Iran, as well as the European Union. During a joint session of the Parliament— which was convened to register protest over the Sweden incident and adopt a resolution in this regard — lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution strongly condemning the incident. The resolution was presented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi and passed unanimously. It stated the house believed in respecting all religions, beliefs and holy books. “This House urged that appropriate steps be taken by Swedish authorities against the perpetrator(s) including but not limited to legal action, and to ensure that no such act taken place in the future,” the resolution said. It added that the house urged incidents of Islamophobia should be dealt with the same seriousness as hate against other religions. “This house urges that relevant international organisations and states must legislate to criminalise desecration of holy symbols of religions including holy books, personalities, places of worship and followers.” According to the resolution, the house also appreciated the steps taken by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — which called an emergency meeting To condemn the incident earlier this week in Jeddah — “to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia”.“This house resolves that the international community take appropriate measures for promoting interfaith harmony to ensure that any act that hurts religious sentiments may never take place in the future,” it added. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while addressing the session said the desecration of the Holy Quran was an attempt to create animosity between Muslims and Christians and any recurrence of such condemnable acts will in no way be tolerated. The prime minister urged United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene a special session to invite Muslim world leaders, adopt a condemnatory resolution, and also warn the Swedish government and such individuals against the recurrence of such condemnable acts. The prime minister urged National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to form a committee with a mandate to formulate recommendations for their onward dissemination to the world, including international organisations, so that such acts can be prevented. He said that, as per their belief, Muslims revere all revealed books including the Bible, as the Holy Quran teaches patience and harmony. He said despite that, such deliberate Islamophobic acts were being carried out to pit Muslims against Christians. He said that the Swedish government would have to clarify its position as to why they allowed such an act under the protection of their police on the day when the Muslims were celebrating Eidul Azha. The prime minister urged the parliamentarians to condemn the act of the Swedish police and make it clear that the Muslims could even sacrifice their lives to protect the sanctity of the Holy Quran. He said that peaceful protests should not be construed as a weakness and that no one should complain about the consequences if such condemnable actions are repeated. PM Shehbaz said that, as the country would observe the Sanctity of Holy Quran Day today (Friday), the whole nation should stage rallies across the country to condemn the desecration of the Holy Quran and convey their sentiments to the world. Calling for using all political and legal options to avert recurrence of such acts, the prime minister also thanked the OIC for convening a special meeting in which they also adopted a condemnatory resolution and put forward suggestions. He said that Pakistan was not against the freedom of speech but no one had the right to desecrate anyone’s belief or fan hatred in this garb. PM Shehbaz urged the house to put forward suggestions which would be raised at the UN platform to tell the world that the billions of Muslims will not allow such hateful acts to be repeated. “This is beyond tolerance. This is not the first time as earlier too, the same thing happened in Sweden. This must be condemned in the strongest possible words,” he remarked. The prime minister recalled and appreciated the former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her support to the Muslims, after an Islamophobic attack against Muslims, which was a positive attempt to establish peace between Muslims and Christians. The prime minister said he would convey the parliamentary resolution to the Swedish government as the Foreign Office was also making its due efforts on the diplomatic fronts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the civilized world and the global peace institutions to play a positive role in containing the incidents of Islamophobia. The prime minister, in a tweet, said the desecration of the Holy Quran, as happened in Sweden and anywhere else in the world, was unacceptable for Muslims. He said the incident hurt the sentiments of 1.25 billion Muslims of the world and stressed that giving space to evil-minded elements was a threat to global peace. “It is urgent to save the world from unrest, hatred, and violence on the basis of the religious divide,” he said. To highlight the message, he said, the joint sitting of the Parliament being held today, would express the resolve to uphold the sanctity of the Holy Quran. Also, a nationwide protest will be held on Friday where public rallies would raise voices against the blasphemous incidents in Sweden. He urged the citizens to participate in the protests in condemnation of the desecration of the Holy Quran.