Holy Quran desecration: Pakistan asks Sweden for action against culprits

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden, calling the country’s government to take ‘serious action’ against the culprits, ARY News reported.

Addressing the federal cabinet today, the prime minister said that the whole Muslim Ummah including the government and people of Pakistan strongly condemned incident of burning a copy of Holy Quran in Sweden.

PM Shehbaz Sharif demanded that a proper investigation should be conducted into the incident “without any interference”.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first incident to take place as such horrific incidents have taken place previously as well. They highlight that Muslims in Sweden, who are a minority, are facing Islamophobia and hatred,” he added.

He also demanded of the Swedish government to take notice of Islamophobic and hateful narrative against the Muslim population in their country.

The premier also appreciated the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for convening an urgent meeting on the issue and said that Pakistan endorsed their meeting and decision, with a hope that such Islamophobic incidents did not recur in the future.

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.