Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for nationwide protest demonstrations on Friday, July 7, against the recent incident of burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden.

The decision was made in a meeting chaired by the premier to discuss the issue of the desecration of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm last week.

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

The prime minister appealed to the nation, including all the political parties, to participate in the protest to convey a united message to the mischievous minds.

Besides, the government would also convene a joint session of the parliament on July 6 to formulate a national strategy on the issue and represent the nation’s sentiments and feelings through the parliamentary forum.

The joint session would also adopt a resolution to condemn the desecration of the Holy Quran.

The prime minister, also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, instructed the party to participate in the Yaum-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran and hold countrywide rallies.

He told the meeting that the sanctity of the Holy Quran was a part of the Muslims’ belief for which all of them were united.

He said that the astray minds were toeing a nefarious agenda of fanning the negative trend of Islamophobia.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said that nations and leadership believing in peace and co-existence should contain the violent forces infested by Islamophobia and religious biases.

He believed that the violent mindset targeting religion, sacred personalities, beliefs, and ideologies were in fact the enemies of world peace.

He said that the forces believing in peace and interfaith harmony should play their role at the international level to get rid of such negative trends.

The development comes after the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) decided to hold an urgent meeting on the desecration of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm at Pakistan’s request.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN Council announced that a debate on the alarming increase in religious hatred will take place later this week.

The incident of desecration occurred last week outside the main mosque in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, during a protest authorized by the police.

Expressing strong condemnation, the Swedish government denounced the burning of the Holy Quran as an “Islamophobic” act.