By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday called on Sweden to take action against a man who desecrated the holy Quran in Stockholm last week and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.
Salwan Momika, 37, a refugee from Iraq, desecrated the Quran and set fire to its pages in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on Wednesday. The act came during the major Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha.
The act of disrespecting the holy book sparked condemnation from Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, and Iran, as well as Sweden’s own government, which denounced it as “Islamophobic.”
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a 57-member bloc of Muslim states, said on Sunday that collective measures were needed to prevent such acts and urged its members to use international law to combat religious hatred.
Sharif said Pakistan and its people deplored the disgusting incident in Sweden, which showed that Muslims faced Islamophobia and discrimination.
“A very wicked incident took place in Sweden and the Holy Quran has once again been desecrated,” PM Sharif said in televised comments at a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad. “The whole Muslim world, the Pakistani nation, and the government condemn it with full force. It is our demand that immediate action be taken against the perpetrators.”
The Swedish police had authorized the protest, citing freedom of speech, after a previous decision to ban a similar protest was overturned by a Swedish court.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first incident and such heart-wrenching incidents have occurred before as well,” Sharif said, demanding that the Swedish government take notice of the growing Islamophobia in the country.
He said that Pakistan supported the OIC’s demand for an investigation of the culprit and prevention of future incidents.
“I am very satisfied that the OIC summoned an emergency meeting in this regard and condemned this wicked act,” Sharif said.
Separately, former Prime Minister Imran Khan called for a peaceful protest after Friday prayers this week to express the nation’s pain and anger over the Quran desecration. He said that Pakistan was a nation founded in the name of Islam and should send a message that such acts were unacceptable.
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