India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI–Muslims all over the world have strongly condemned the burning a copy of the Holy Quran in presence of police outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm in Sweden.
The countriesd that immediately condemned the blasphemy include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan and Jordan.
Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also condemned the burning of Quran. He tweeted: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. But what is legal is not necessarily appropriate. Burning books that are holy to many is a deeply disrespectful act.”
In India, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), a prominent orgnization of Indian Muslims, condemned the incident, saying, “It is symptomatic of moral decadence and blind aggression against other faiths.” It appealed people not to resort to violent protests against such Islamophobic acts and urged all parties to exercise utmost restraint.
JIH demanded that Government of India should condemn the act and convey its displeasure to the Swedish Embassy in India.
Media reports say that Paludan made hate speeches against Islam and Muslims for about an hour, before lighting the Quran. He was surrounded by the police when he set afire the Quran.
According to reports, about 100 Kurdish people held a peaceful protest against Paludan’s blasphemous act at the same time when the radical Chrisitian leader was burning the Quran’s copy.
In April last year, Paludan had announced a Quran burning “tour” during the holy month of Ramzan. It has resulted in riots across Sweden.
While Paludan did the blasphemy under the guise of “freedom of expression”, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “It is not about freedom of expression. It is racist action.”
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book… Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” Cavusoglu said in a statement.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also condemned it in strongest of terms. “Islamophobic acts are not an expression of freedom of expression,” Imran Khan said.
Strongest protest over the blasphemy against Islam were witnessed in Turkey and Bangladesh.
Protesters outside the Swedish Emassy in Turkey burnt the Swedish flag and threaterned to burn Sweden itself.
Meanwhile, Turkey has cancelled the scheduled visit of Swedish defence minister.
A student organization in Dhaka took out a missve protest against the Quran burning in Sweden.
