Joint Sitting of Parliament strongly condemns the act of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden

 ISLAMABAD, July 06 (SABAH): The Joint Sitting of the Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution urging the relevant international organizations and states to legislate to criminalize the desecration of holy symbols of religions including holy books, personalities and places of worships.

The resolution moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbassi strongly condemned the act of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. The resolution said that the parliament believes in respecting all religions, beliefs and their holy books. It urged that appropriate steps should be taken by the Swedish authorities against the perpetrators, including but not limited to the legal action and to ensure that no such act takes place in future.

The resolution also urged that incidents of Islamophobia should be dealt with the same seriousness as hate against other religions.

The House acknowledged and appreciated the convening of the OIC session for providing a platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia.

The house called upon international community to take appropriate measures for promoting interfaith harmony to ensure that any act that hurts religious sentiments may never take place in future.

The resolution was passed after Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, during a speech at the outset of the session, urged National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to constitute a committee for the purpose of condemning the desecration of the Holy Quran and suggesting measures to prevent such incidents in the future. “It will be my responsibility to send the resolution and recommendations to Sweden,” he said.

Addressing the house, the premier said Muslims across the world were angry over the incident. The Holy Quran, he stated, taught the philosophy of love, respect and patience to the entire world, highlighting that several messengers, such as Prophet Isa, were mentioned in the book. “As Muslims, we respect them, their books and their religion.

“Never has anyone heard or seen the Bible being desecrated or burnt here. We respect all these religions so that no one points a finger at our religion or book,” he added. The PM claimed that events such as the one in Sweden were a part of “a conspiracy to create rifts between Christians and Muslims” and demanded that such actions be condemned.

“The incident that took place in Sweden on Eid […] no one ever thought that the police would let something like this happen […] we need to tell the world that this won’t be tolerated,” he asserted.

“It is a part of our belief that we should sacrifice our lives to uphold the honour of the Holy Quran without worrying about anything … the restraint that we are showing must not be seen as a weakness.”

The premier then called on people from all walks of life, as well as political and religious parties, to take to the streets on Friday (July 7) and register their protest against the incident and “give a message to the world”.

He further stated that the “vile man” who disrespected the Holy Quran should be punished in an exemplary manner, highlighting that that could only be done through legal and political discussions.

“For this purpose, I want to appreciate the efforts of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,” PM Shehbaz Sharif said, referring to an emergency meeting of the group which took place earlier this week.

Furthermore, the premier said that although Sweden had condemned the incident, it should clear its position on why the incident took place at all. “We are not against freedom of speech, but no one has the right to talk about anyone’s religion or do propaganda against Muslims. No law in the world allows this,” he stressed, recalling that similar incidents had taken place in Sweden in the past as well.

PM Shehbaz Sharif also mentioned former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Arden and talked about the way she “respected and protected Muslims”. He paid tribute to Arden and said Pakistan would always remember her.

“I am trying to reach out to the secretary general of the United Nations to call a meeting of all the Muslim leaders in which condemnations would be issued,” he added, hoping that these measures would prevent such incidents in the future. The parliament session has now been adjourned to meet again on the 25th of this month at 5:00 PM.