FM Bilawal raises Quran desecration with Swedish counterpart

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari raised the recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and other Nordic countries with his Swedish counterpart.

Taking to Twitter, Bilawal said that he raised the issue with Foreign Minister of Sweden Tobias Billstrom in a telephone conversation.

“He apprised me that all Islamophobic acts in any form are strongly rejected by the Swedish government. I emphasised that such abhorrent acts shouldn’t be permitted under the guise of freedom of expression,” tweeted Bilawal.

The Foreign Minister of Sweden Tobias Billstrom spoke with me today. I shared my deep concern at the recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and other countries. He apprised me that all Islamophobic acts in any form are strongly rejected by the Swedish… pic.twitter.com/QydPQ0WUpp

— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) August 2, 2023

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Bilawal had taken up the issue with his Danish counterpart as well when he called him.

“I received a call from Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and raised our deep concern on the recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran in Denmark and other European countries,” Billawal had tweeted back then as well.

“While acknowledging the Danish government’s outreach to the Muslim world and condemnation of these abhorrent acts, I stressed the need for stopping Islamophobic acts that hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the world. Also emphasised the need to promote interfaith harmony and religious tolerance,” Bilawal had told Foreign Minister Rasmussen.

Bilawal also participated in the 18th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) where the issue of Quran burning was taken up.

In the meeting, the OIC expressed grave concern over an increase in Islamophobia after a spike in incidents of Holy Quran burning in Nordic nations.