Pakistan strongly condemns desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the despicable act of public burning of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

“Such willful incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest,” the foreign office said in a statement.

“Under international law, States are duty bound to prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred, leading to incitement of violence,” the FO said in a statement.

The statement further said that the recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents during the last few months in the West calls into serious question the legal framework which permits such hate-driven actions.

“We reiterate that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a licence to stoke hatred and sabotage inter-faith harmony,” it added.

Pakistan’s concerns about the incident are being conveyed to Sweden, the FO said and once again urged the international community and the national governments to undertake credible and concrete measures to prevent the rising incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.