'Quran burning doesn't reflect views of Swedish government'

Stockholm [Sweden], July 3 : The Swedish government condemned the burning of the holy Quran outside the Stockholm Central Mosque on Sunday and called it an "Islamophobic act", according to Khaama Press.

The statement said, "We condemn the Quran burning in Stockholm in the strongest terms, and this hateful act does not represent the views of the Swedish government."

Burning Quran or any other holy scripture is an insulting and impolite act clearly aimed at inciting public opinion. "Racism, homophobia and other acts of intolerance have no place in Sweden or Europe," the statement added.

Moreover, in a statement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has asked for collective action by Muslim countries based on international laws, as per Khaama Press.

The OIC urged member states to "take unified and collective measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents of desecration of copies of the Quran", according to a statement released after the "extraordinary" meeting.

According to sources, Stockholm police permitted a small group of protestors to burn the holy Quran last Wednesday. However, the permission was granted a week after a court in Sweden rejected the request of banning such protests and gatherings, reported Khaama Press.

Swedish Foreign Ministry mentioned that Stockholm supports freedom of speech and peaceful gatherings based on the constitution.

This statement came after a majority of Islamic countries reacted firmly to the burning of the Quran and politically pressurized the Swedish government, according to Khaama Press.

Several religious and political parties will hold protests in different cities of the country against the heinous act of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, Geo TV reported citing the News.

Jamat-e-Islami (JI) called out a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Islamabad on Monday to condemn the burning of a copy of the sacred book by a man in the Swiss capital, according to Geo TV.

JI's Islamabad Amir Nasarullah Randhawa said during a news conference that the protest march against the heinous act would commence from F-6 Markaz and culminate at Swedish Embassy. A large number of poeple are going to attend the protest rally starting at 5 p.m. today, he added. The JI leader also demanded severing diplomatic ties with Sweden if the country did not take such heinous acts seriously and prevent such events in the future, as per Geo TV.

Meanwhile, the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) also staged a protest outside Karachi Press Club on Sunday.

Allama Sadiq Jafferi, the party's president urged the Foreign Office to summon the ambassador and other diplomatic staff from the Swedish embassy to lodge a strong protest against the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, according to Geo TV.

Furthermore, the MWM president said the Pakistani government, particularly Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, had maintained silence in a 'criminal way' after the desecration incident in Sweden. However, some other ministers said that the government should dismiss the Swedish Ambassador from the country after declaring him persona non grata as the latest incident was not the first in Sweden.

However, last week, Turkey condemned a decision by Swedish authorities to approve a small Quran-burning demonstration outside a mosque in Stockholm, a move that may jeopardize Sweden's bid to join NATO before the bloc's key summit in July, CNN reported.

Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan condemned the protest and called it a 'heinous act'. "It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. To turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in them," he said in a statement, as per CNN.

The Turkish government's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun said in a tweet, "We are sick and tired of enabling Islamophobia and continued instances of hatred for our religion on the part of European authorities especially in Sweden."

"Those who seek to become our allies in NATO, cannot tolerate or enable destructive behaviours of Islamophobic and xenophobic terrorists," the tweet said, according to CNN.

The Quran-burning demonstration happened on June 28 when an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Muslim holy book and set several pages on fire outside Stockholm's main mosque, which prompted massive condemnations worldwide, Al Jazeera reported.

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