ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, saying it continued under government sanctions and with a sense of immunity from the UN rights body on a controversial motion.
Last month, a man – who immigrated to Sweden from Iraq – set fire to pages of the Holy Quran outside a Stockholm mosque on the first day of Eid al-Adha, sparking outrage across the Muslim world and Pope Francis.
In response, Pakistan moved a motion seeking a report from the UN rights chief on the matter and called on states to review their laws and close loopholes that “advocate religious hatred.” and may prevent actions and hinder legal proceedings”.
The debate highlighted differences between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a Muslim group, and Western members of the UN Human Rights Council over the movement’s impact on freedom of expression and long-standing practices in protecting rights. Concerned about the challenges faced by
Addressing an impromptu discussion session organized by the Human Rights Council on acts of religious hatred, Bilawal urged the world to unite against hatred, discrimination and intolerance and promote mutual respect, understanding and tolerance. Demanded to give.
“We must see this incitement to hatred, discrimination and attempts to incite violence. We must join hands in condemning it, we must isolate those who spread hate,” he said, adding that These actions were designed to spread as much hatred as possible.
FM Bilawal said that the first International Day against Islamophobia was celebrated three months ago where the first session was held in the United Nations General Assembly on this occasion.
The minister said that Holy Quran is the spiritual anchor for two billion Muslims. “It is important to understand the deep damage caused to Muslims by public and deliberate acts of desecration of the Qur’an.”
Bilawal Bhutto termed the desecration of the Holy Quran as an attack on the Muslim faith and said that the demand in the draft text presented before this council for prevention and accountability was reasonable and necessary.
The minister said that hate speech and freedom of expression should be separated because freedom of expression is as indispensable as hate speech is indefensible.
He said that there is not a single Muslim country on the planet that allows desecration of sacred texts of other religions.
“It is forbidden by faith, culture and law,” he added.
His remarks were echoed by ministers from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, who later called it an act of “Islamophobia”. “Stop abusing freedom of expression,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said. “Silence means complicity.”
German Ambassador Katharina Stasch condemned the burning as a “terrible provocation”. But he added that “freedom of expression sometimes means tolerating opinions that seem almost intolerable”. The French envoy said that human rights are related to the protection of people and not religions and their symbols.
Diplomats say intense negotiations have resulted in no progress on Tuesday and they expect a vote. Such a vote would almost certainly pass because the OIC countries are 19 members of the 47-member body and have the backing of China and others.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk told the council that provocative actions against Muslims, as well as other religions or minorities, were “aggressive, irresponsible and wrong”.
