Parliament condemns Islamophobic act

Joint sitting passes resolution calling for outlawing defilement of symbols of religions

ISLAMABAD:

The joint sitting of parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution, urging the relevant international organisations and states to legislate and criminalise desecration of symbols of religions including holy books, personalities, places of worship and followers.

The resolution, which was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi on behalf of all parties in the house, condemned the act of desecration of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden.

“This House believes in respecting all religions, beliefs and their holy books,” the resolution stated.

The House resolved that the international community should take appropriate measures for promoting interfaith harmony to ensure that any act that hurt religious sentiments might never take place in the future.

The joint sitting urged that appropriate steps be taken by Swedish authorities against the perpetrator(s) including but not limited to legal action.

The House also urged that incidents of Islamophobia be dealt with the same seriousness as hate against other religions.

This House acknowledges and appreciates the convening of the OIC [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation] session for providing a platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia,” the resolution read.

The lawmakers from both sides of the aisle condemned the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden and called for measures to avoid such abhorrent acts in future that insulted the sacred values of Muslims.

Speaking on a motion to discuss the situation arising out of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden in the joint sitting, they said Muslims across the globe should forge unity and raise a joint voice to stop the recurrence of such profane acts.

MNA Sahahuddin of MQM-P, while condemning the incident, said a mere statement issued by the Swedish government was not enough as the act was carried out with the permission of the court.

He added that Islam preached peace, love, tolerance and tranquility.
Sahahuddin continued that the followers of Islam did not disrespect any other religion or holy books.

He suggested a copy of resolution should also be sent to all Europeans countries and Sweden.

The MNA said it was their joint issue and for which a peaceful protest should be launched to condemn the incident.

He appreciated the prime minister’s decision to observe Yaum-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran on Friday (today) and urged the people to fully participate in it to register their protest.

Raza Rabbani of the PPP said the desecration of holy books or religions in name of freedom of expression did not allow anyone to carry out such a heinous act.

He added that the desecration of the Holy Quran was also a blatant violation of the international laws.

Talking part in the debate, Mushtaq Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami termed the incident an act of war against Islam.

He said it was an attack on the Muslims’ ideological borders.

The JI lawmaker maintained that such freedom of expression was tantamount to an act of terrorism.

He added that unfortunately, the court in Sweden had given permission to the wretched man to desecrate the Holy Quran and such acts would push the world into a third world war.

He urged the leadership of Muslim countries to raise their voice jointly reiterating that it was a blatant act of terrorism.

He also demanded recalling of Pakistan’s ambassador from Sweden besides expelling its ambassador and completely boycott of products of that country.

He also suggested proper legislation at the UN level to ensure respect of all religions and holy books.

The JI lawmaker called for approaching the International court in this connection.
Senator Hidayatullah of the ANP said the act had hurt the feelings of Muslims all over the world.

He added that such despicable acts would only promote hatred in the society.
MNA Farukh Khan of the PML-Q said time and again, Islam had promoted peace and tranquility.

“This evil must be punished by the UN as it is promoting hatred in the world,” she added.

Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal underlined the need for tolerance and forbearance among different faiths to avoid a clash of civilisations.
“Our religion teaches us patience but in the West, incidents regularly keep on taking place that hurt the sentiments of Muslims,” he added.

“If you will speak disrespectfully about the holocaust you are not spared as they have rules for that,” the minister pointed out.

He said the Muslims would have to make themselves stronger by obtaining scientific knowledge.

“Only protests and condemnations will not serve for any purpose. Muslims must pursue knowledge and pay heed towards scientific discoveries as instructed by the Holy Quran,” he continued.

Senator Kamran Murtaza stressed the need for Muslims to carry out their own accountability.

“We must try to know what are the reasons of our downfall,” he added.
The senator said the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden was not the first such instance.

Rejecting the rationale of freedom of expression, he said police had given permission to extremists to desecrate the Holy Quran outside the main mosque in the Swedish capital on the first day of Eidul Azha.

He continued that they must try to find out why it had occurred.

Separately, Pakistan, on behalf of the OIC, said the reason for seeking an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council on the burning of a Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden was to underscore the need for adoption of effective national  legal measures to put an end to such provocative acts.

The desecration of the holy book, which took place outside the Swedish capital Stockholm’s main mosque last week, was carried out by a man during a protest authorised by the police, sparking off global outrage and diplomatic backlash.

The debate in the Human Rights Council will take place as soon as arrangements are finalised.

“The burning and desecration of the Holy Quran last week, on the day of Muslim festival [Eidul Azha] and outside a place of worship, was not the only or an isolated act,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN offices in Geneva, Khalil Hashmi, told the 47-member council, pointing out that it was the sixth one in recent months.

“These outrageous acts represent a clear, growing and recurrent act of religious hatred in full public display and under government licence,” he continued.

”All these Islamophobic acts were premediated. Yet we have seen a consistent defence of these acts by conflating them with the exercise of right to freedom of expression and opinion”, Hashmi said.

“Given the far-reaching implications for public order as well as their offensive and provocative nature, none of these acts were either prevented or prosecuted,” he added.

Hashmi said the OIC Group had previously and repeatedly registered its grave concerns over these acts of incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence in this council and called for effective deterrence measures.

“It is clear that in the absence of legal deterrence, such actions have only continued with a sense of impunity,” he observed.

Noting that the latest of this provocative act had been widely condemned, Hashmi said mere words were no longer enough. “The status quo, which seeks to normalise desecration of sacred books by invoking interpretations grounded in opinions, is no longer tenable.

Hashmi observed that the recurrence, impunity and absence of legal deterrence risked serious social, political and human rights impacts that might hinder the realisation of their shared vision of peaceful and inclusive societies.

“The OIC Group also wishes to underline that the existing normative framework developed by this council has not yielded the results that were foreseen,” the Pakistani envoy said.

“Clearly, the absence of effective national legal and policy measures has continued to impede prevention and prosecution of these acts deemed repulsive by billions of people.  For these reasons, we have called for this urgent debate and presented a draft resolution, proposing an expert discussion on how to prevent recurrence of such acts and development of normative, legal and law enforcement deterrence measures while recognising that exercise of the right to freedom of expression and opinion carries with it responsibilities and duties as enshrined in international human rights law,” he concluded.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday 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.

With additional input from APP