A resolution condemning the degradation of religious symbols, such as sacred texts, personalities, places of worship, and adherents, was voted overwhelmingly by the joint sitting of parliament in ISLAMABAD on Thursday.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi introduced a motion condemning the vandalism of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden on behalf of all parties in the parliament.
The resolution declared, “This House believes in respecting all religions, beliefs, and their holy books.”
To ensure that no future conduct might ever occur that hurts religious emotions, the House has agreed that the international community should take necessary measures for promoting interfaith harmony.
The combined session demanded that legal action be taken by Swedish authorities against the perpetrator(s).
The House further demanded that Islamophobia be treated with the same severity as hate crimes against Christians or Jews.
With this resolution, the House of Representatives “recognizes and appreciates the convening of the OIC [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation] session for providing a platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia.”
Legislators on both sides of the aisle spoke out against the burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden and that action be taken to prevent future acts of such “heinousness.”
During the combined session, they spoke on a motion to discuss the situation coming out of the destruction of the Holy Quran in Sweden, saying that Muslims all over the world should come together and speak out against the recurrence of such profane deeds.
While denouncing the incident, MQM-P MNA Sahahuddin stated that a simple statement from the Swedish government was not sufficient because the act was carried out with the approval of the court.
He went on to say that Islam was a religion that encouraged calm, compassion, and acceptance.
Sahahuddin went on to say that Muslims did not desecrate other faiths’ scriptures or practices.
He proposed that the resolution be forwarded to all European nations in addition to Sweden.
The MNA stated that this was a matter of mutual concern and called for a peaceful demonstration to be held in protest of the incident.
He praised the prime minister’s decision to hold Friday’s (today’s) Yaum-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran as a day of protest and asked the public to take part in the event in its entirety.
PPP member Raza Rabbani remarked that invoking freedom of expression as a justification for desecration of religious texts was unacceptable.
The mutilation of the Holy Quran, he continued, was also a flagrant disregard for international law.
Mushtaq Ahmed, a representative of the Jamaat-e-Islami and a debate participant, characterized the occurrence as a “act of war against Islam.”
According to him, this represents an assault on the very limits of Islamist ideology.
The JI legislator insisted that this kind of free speech was the same as terrorism.
He continued by saying that the Swedish court’s decision to allow the miserable guy to damage the Holy Quran was tragic and would lead inevitably to a third global conflict.
He called on Muslim leaders to speak out as one and condemn the attack as a terrorist crime.
In addition to asking for the expulsion of Pakistan’s ambassador and a complete boycott of Swedish products, he also called for the recall of Pakistan’s envoy.
To ensure that all religions and sacred texts are respected, he advocated for legislation at the United Nations level.
The JI lawmaker suggested going to the World Court to settle the dispute.
According to ANP Senator Hidayatullah, the incident offended Muslims everywhere.
He continued by saying that such heinous behavior would fuel further animosity in people.
Farukh Khan, a PML-Q lawmaker, frequently argued that Islam encouraged calm and harmony.
Adding, “this evil must be punished by the UN as it is promoting hatred in the world,” she said.
Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal stressed the importance of religious tolerance in order to prevent a collision of civilizations.
He continued, “Our religion teaches us patience but in the West, incidents regularly keep on happening that hurt the sentiments of Muslims.”
“If you will speak disrespectfully about the Holocaust, you are not spared as they have rules for that,” the minister said.
He warned that the Muslims needed to arm themselves with scientific knowledge in order to survive.
Nothing will be accomplished by merely protesting and condemning. “The Holy Quran commands Muslims to seek knowledge and to take note of scientific discoveries,” he continued.
Senator Kamran Murtaza emphasized the importance of personal responsibility for Muslims.
The reasons for our decline must be investigated, he said.
The senator claimed that the Holy Quran destruction in Sweden was not an isolated incident.
He rejected the justification of free speech and claimed police had allowed radicals to damage the Holy Quran on the first day of Eidul Azha outside the largest mosque in the Swedish capital.
He went on to say that they needed to determine what had caused the incident.
Separately, Pakistan stated on behalf of the OIC that the burning of a Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden demonstrates the urgent necessity for the adoption of appropriate national legal measures to put an end to such provocative activities.
A man desecrated the holy book last week in front of Stockholm’s major mosque during a protest sanctioned by police, drawing international condemnation and diplomatic retaliation.
As soon as logistics are ironed out, the Human Rights Council debate will begin.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Khalil Hashmi, told the 47-member council that last week’s burning and desecration of the Holy Quran on the day of a Muslim festival (Eidul Azha) and outside a place of worship was not the only or an isolated act. He noted that it was the sixth such incident in recent months.
“These outrageous acts represent a clear, growing, and recurring act of religious hatred in full public display and under government licence,” he concluded.
All of these anti-Muslim incidents were planned in advance. Nonetheless, “we have seen a consistent defense of these acts by conflating them with the exercise of right to freedom of expression and opinion,” Hashmi said.
Not only were none of these acts prevented or prosecuted, but “given the far-reaching implications for public order as well as their offensive and provocative nature,” he added.
Hashmi stated that the OIC Group had previously and frequently voiced serious concerns about these acts of incitement to discrimination, animosity, and violence in this council, and had urged the implementation of strong preventative measures.
“It is clear that in the absence of legal deterrence, such actions have only continued with a sense of impunity,” he said.
Hashmi pointed out that the most recent iteration of this aggressive act had been publicly denounced, but that this was no longer sufficient. The current situation, which justifies the defilement of holy texts by appealing to subjective interpretations, is untenable.
Hashmi pointed out that the recurrence, impunity, and lack of legal deterrence posed a threat to the realization of their common goal of peaceful and inclusive societies, impacting areas such as social justice, politics, and human rights.
A normative framework devised by this council has not produced the effects expected, the Pakistani envoy said, adding that the OIC group wanted to stress this point.
“It is abundantly clear that the lack of adequate national legal and regulatory measures has continued to obstruct prevention and prosecution of these crimes deemed disgusting by billions of people. The exercise of the right to freedom of expression and opinion is accompanied by responsibilities and duties as enshrined in international human rights law, which is why we have called for this urgent debate and presented a draft resolution proposing an expert discussion on how to prevent a recurrence of such acts and development of normative, legal, and law enforcement deterrence measures,” he said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the civilized world and international peace institutions to take action to curb rising Islamophobic acts.
The Prime Minister tweeted that it was unacceptable for Muslims anywhere in the globe for the Holy Quran to be desecrated.
He expressed concern for the 1.25 billion Muslims around the world and warned that allowing evil-minded people a platform was dangerous to international stability.
He warned that “the world needs saving from unrest, hatred, and violence on the basis of the religious divide,” adding, “It is urgent to save the world from this.”
