PAKISTAN has condemned Islamophobic provocative acts in Sweden, joining Malaysia and other Muslim countries in criticising the extremist group that planned to burn copies of the holy Quran in Swedish cities. 

Danish extremist leader Rasmus Paludan of the Stram Kurs (Tight Course) party had burned a copy of the holy book in Sweden’s Linkoping, according to media reports. 

“These mindless provocative Islamophobic incidents serve no purpose other than hurting the sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims living all over the world,” Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement yesterday. 

“The international community needs to show a common resolve against xenophobia, intolerance and incitement to violence on the basis of religion or belief, and work together for promoting inter-faith harmony and peaceful co-existence. 

“That has been the spirit behind the OIC’s (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) recent initiative led by Pakistan at the UN General Assembly to designate March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia,” it said. 

OIC secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha and a number of Muslims countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Turkey, yesterday denounced the extremist politician’s planned provocations in the Nordic country of 10 million.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the attacks against the Quran in Sweden “have shown that no lessons have been learnt from the past, that there is still hesitation to prevent Islamophobic and racist provocative acts”.

“The secretary-general said the event is a clear manifestation of the racist and xenophobic mindset of the organisers, and that their action goes against all accepted norms and values of civilised society,” the OIC said in a statement. 

The Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed the kingdom’s “condemnation of the deliberate abuse of the holy Quran, provocations and incitement against Muslims by some extremists in Sweden”. – Bernama, April 19, 2022.