Pakistan strongly condemns desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden

FO says right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a license to stoke hatred

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran outside a Stockholm mosque on the occasion of Eidul Azha, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

“Such willful incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest,” the statement read.

The statement added that under international law, states are duty-bound to prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred, leading to the incitement of violence.

“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,” it added.

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

Read more: Protesters attempt burning copies of Holy Quran on French island

In the statement, the FO also urged the international community and the national governments to undertake “credible and concrete measures to prevent the rising incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred”.

A day earlier, a man tore up and burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside Stockholm's central mosque, an event that risks angering Turkey as Sweden bids to join NATO, after Swedish police granted permission for the protest to take place.

Around 200 onlookers witnessed the incident. Some of those present shouted 'God is great' in Arabic to protest against the desecration, and one man was detained by police after he attempted to throw a rock.

Police charged the man who set fire to the Holy Quran with agitation against an ethnic or national group and with a violation of a ban on fires that has been in place in Stockholm since mid-June.

While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Holy Quran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.