Holy Quran desecration: Govt announces countrywide protests on July 7

ISLAMABAD: The government would observe Yaum-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran on July 7 to hold countrywide protests against the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden and convene a joint parliamentary session a day earlier, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The decision was made in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the issue of the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden.

It was decided that a countrywide protests would be held on Friday (July 7) across the country to condemn the act.

The prime minister appealed to the nation, including all the political parties, to participate in the protest to convey a united message to the mischievous minds.

Besides, the government would also convene a joint session of the parliament on July 6 to formulate a national strategy on the issue and represent the nation’s sentiments and feelings through the parliamentary forum.

The joint session would also adopt a resolution to condemn the desecration of the Holy Quran.

The prime minister, also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, instructed the party to participate in the Yaum-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran and hold countrywide rallies.

He told the meeting that the sanctity of the Holy Quran was a part of the Muslims’ belief for which all of them were united.

PM Shehbaz said that the astray minds were toeing a nefarious agenda of fanning the negative trend of Islamophobia.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said that nations and leadership believing in peace and co-existence should contain the violent forces infested by the Islamophobia and religious biases.

He believed that the violent mindset targeting the religion, sacred personalities, beliefs and ideologies were in fact the enemies of the world peace.

He said that the forces believing in peace and interfaith harmony should play their role at the international level to get rid of such negative trends.

Earlier, a man desecrated the Holy Quran in Sweden’s capital Stockholm last week, resulting in strong condemnation from several states, including Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq and Iran.

Sweden’s government also condemned burning of Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque, calling it an “Islamophobic” act.

“The Swedish Government fully understands that the Islamophobic acts committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn these acts, which in no way reflect the views of the Swedish government,” it added.

The condemnation came in response to a call for collective measures to avoid future Quran burnings from the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

READ: Muslim world condemns desecration of Quran in Sweden

The 57-member body met at its Jeddah headquarters to respond to Wednesday’s incident in which an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, set several pages of Quran alight.