KARACHI:
Last week, the anti-Muslim Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line) planned on desecrating the Holy Quran as part of their demonstration in the Swedish city of Orebro. Following this announcement, riots erupted across Orebro before the demonstration, which resulted in severe unrest and causalities. The go-ahead for such an event paints a malevolent and intolerant image of Western countries and uncovers the hypocrisy of the West.
Despite claiming to be a champion of religious freedom, tolerance, and acceptance, Islamophobic events have occurred at regular intervals across Europe, North America and New Zealand. With the presidential elections just around the corner, French leaders have taken on far-right views and anti-Muslim discourse that has permeated even public discourse. In 2021, the French government introduced a ‘separatism law’ that targeted the 5.7 million Muslim community of France. Many isolated attacks on Muslims in the US, UK and other countries have occurred in the recent past; however, the governments have done little to protect the Muslim communities.
In Palestine, Israel has once again pursued the same course of action as last year, by attacking Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Gaza Strip. Many believe that these actions are aimed at slowly erasing the entire Palestinian population. To safeguard holy sites, protect Islam and ensure the safety of all Muslims, Muslim countries must rise above their personal gains and losses and act against Islamophobia and violence against Muslims. The absence of cooperation within the Muslim countries has emboldened anti-Muslim groups around the world to continue their aggression. All Muslim countries should condemn these actions and pressure the Western governments to take strict action.
Raza ul Haq
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2022.
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