AS Muslim leadership around the globe is emphasizing the need for inter-faith harmony, some Western countries are bent upon promoting Islamophobia as has been confirmed, once again, by the highly sacrilegious act of burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an by a Swedish lunatic.
Rasmus Paludan, leader of far-right and anti-Muslim immigration party Hard Line poured pork blood on the holy book and torched it as Swedish police watched the scene silently, sending a clear message that the provocation and desecration had tacit approval of the government which is also defending his action in the name of so-called freedom of speech.
It is all the more alarming that local Muslims including minors, who were protesting against desecration of their holy book, have been arrested and being prosecuted on charges like attempted murder.
That Rasmus Paludan had the backing of the Administration is confirmed by the fact that Muslims made pleas for withdrawal of permission for Paludan to carry out his nefarious plans but these requests fell on deaf ears.
Pakistan and other Muslim countries have strongly condemned the abhorrent act of desecration of the Holy Quran and the offensive remarks by the Dutch politician, attacking Islam and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
These mindless provocative Islamophobic incidents serve no purpose other than hurting the sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims living all over the world, the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has rightly pointed out that the recent attacks against the holy book of Islam in Sweden show that no lessons have been taken from the past, adding that the European countries fail to take adequate measures against provocations against Muslims.
Unfortunately, the Swedish Government has not only not apologized for Paludan’s activities but Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson but also justified them claiming these were ‘part of our democracy’.
This is not an isolated incident as sacrilegious crimes were committed by individuals in the Netherlands and France with full connivance of the governments sparking violent reaction in Pakistan.
There were consistent demands for expulsion of the French Ambassador from Pakistan and the Government pacified enraged sentiments of the people in a long-drawn process.
Such dastardly acts would continue until and unless Muslim leaders adopt a tough stand against Islamophobia including expulsion of Swedish envoys and total trade boycott of the country.
