Lord Sarfraz of Kensington congratulated the Pakistani government on the passing of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolu-tion condemning public acts of religious hatred, such as the recent desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden.
Lord Sarfraz is a British-Pakistani Member of the House of Lords belonging to the ruling Conservative Party. He was appointed in 2020 and serves as the prime minister’s trade envoy to Singapore and a Member of the UK Joint Committee on National Security Strategy.
He said there were four big takeaways from the vote. First, he noted it was a demonstration of Pakistan’s ability to design and lead a successful international diplomatic campaign, effectively engaging the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and UNHRC member states. He said this was a challenging task, which had been executed very well.
Second, he said it was excellent news that India supported the resolution. It is very rare for India and Pakistan to support each other’s work at the UN, and credit should be given to India for doing so.
Third, he said that the United Kingdom, which currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council, should have supported the resolution as well.
“In January this year, I wrote to the home secretary calling for a UK travel ban on Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan for inciting hatred and violence by burning the Holy Quran. In March, our government banned his entry, which was a sensible and welcome move,” said the lawmaker.
Fourth, he said that broad interfaith support on this issue, and in particular, Pope Francis’s strong comments on this matter were very helpful and welcome.—Agencies
