Photo courtesy PID
Addressing a joint session of Parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday urged the Swedish government to clarify its position on the desecration of the holy Quran, questioning how such a hateful action were allowed under the protection of police on the first day of Eidul Azha.
On June 28, an Iraqi man in Stockholm set fire to a copy of the Quran, triggering an outpouring of condemnations from the Islamic world, and raising concerns over rising incidents of Islamophobia in Western states. Earlier this week, Pakistan announced it would mark July 7 (Friday) as ‘Quran Sanctity Day,’ with demonstrations planned nationwide to voice its protest over the desecration of the holy book.
Describing the incident as an attempt to create animosity between Muslims and other religions, especially Christians, the prime minister warned that a repeat of such condemnable acts was intolerable. Urging United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an urgent session of the global body to adopt a condemnatory resolution against the incident, he similarly called on National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to form a committee to formulate recommendations for the global community and avert such acts in future.
Sharif stressed on parliamentarians to condemn the act of Swedish police in allowing the burning of the Quran to take place, maintaining that Muslims could even sacrifice their own lives to protect the sanctity of the holy Quran. Emphasizing that peaceful protests should not be construed as weakness, he warned that “no one should complain about the consequences” if such condemnable actions were repeated.
Calling on the nation to stage peaceful protests nationwide to mark Quran Sanctity Day, he said this would effectively convey their sentiments to the world. “This is beyond tolerance. This is not the first time as the same thing happened in Sweden earlier as well,” he said, reiterating that it must be condemned in the strongest possible words.
Parliamentary resolution
Following the prime minister’s speech, the joint session adopted a resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbas condemning the desecration of the holy Quran in Sweden and urging the Swedish government to take legal action against the man who had burned the holy book.
Parliamentarians from both the government and opposition benches expressed deep distress over the incident, stressing that Muslims globally had been profoundly hurt by the incident. Emphasizing that no civilized society should permit such provocative and disrespectful acts targeting religious sentiments under the guise of freedom of expression, they also urged the international community to address this tragic incident and take effective measures to prevent similar occurrences.
“This House condemns the desecration of the holy Quran in Sweden. The Swedish government should take legal action against the person involved in the incident,” read the resolution, and urged Stockholm to ensure such incidents do not repeat in future. It further demanded strict action against Islamophobic incidents and condemned the desecration of sacred religious rituals, books and personalities. It also called for forming an effective policy to combat Islamophobia.
Criminalizing desecration
In response to the global outrage, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told the Aftonbladet daily that the Swedish government was considering making the burning of holy books illegal, as such incidents damaged Sweden’s security. “We have to ask ourselves whether the current order is good or whether there is reason to reconsider it,” he said, adding Sweden had become a “prioritized target” for attacks after the rise of such incidents under free speech laws. “We can see that the incident last week has generated threats to our internal security,” he said.