‘Youm-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran’: PM Shehbaz calls on country to protest against desecration

As the nation observes ‘Youm-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran’ [Quran Sanctity Day] on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the country to record its protest against the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. He said the Quran is not ‘‘only a recitation for us but a guideline for living’’.

’’When it comes to the matter of Quran, the entire nation is united. The entire Muslim ummah is disturbed by the incident in Sweden,“ he tweeted.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also took to Twitter and said that the desecration of the Holy Quran was another example of a rising Islamophobic mindset.

Bilawal added that Pakistan will be raising the issue at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s urgent debate that is scheduled for July 11 in Geneva, on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) group.

According to the UN Human Rights Council’s website, it will will hold an urgent debate to “discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries.”

Last month, an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, aged 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight.

On Wednesday, PM Shehbaz called for nationwide protest demonstrations on Friday (today). The decision was made in a meeting chaired by the premier to discuss the issue of the desecration of the Holy Quran.

The meeting decided that protest rallies would be held on Friday across the country to condemn the act.

Earlier in the week, Sweden had condemned the act after Saudi-based OIC called for measures to avoid future burnings.

Pakistan also condemned the act and said that the recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents during the last few months in the West calls into serious question the legal framework which permits such hate-driven actions.

“We reiterate that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a license to stoke hatred and sabotage inter-faith harmony.”