Aamir Latif
22 January 2023•Update: 23 January 2023
KARACHI, Pakistan
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Sunday added their voices to the growing condemnation of a far-right politician in Sweden for desecrating the Quran, calling on Stockholm to take action and prevent such provocative acts in the future.
"No words are enough to adequately condemn the abhorrable (horrible) act of desecration of Holy Quran by a right-wing extremist in Sweden. The grab of the freedom of expression cannot be used to hurt the religious emotions of 1.5 billion Muslims across the world," Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated on Twitter.
"This is unacceptable," he added.
The Foreign Ministry in the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan also "strongly" condemned the burning and desecration of the Holy Quran and urged the Swedish government to punish the perpetrators of this act.
In a statement, the ministry also urged Stockholm not to allow such people to take provocative actions against the Islamic religion and Muslims in the future.
Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line), was granted permission by the Swedish government to burn the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday.
In response to Sweden's permission, Ankara has canceled Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson's upcoming visit to Türkiye.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned Swedish Ambassador to Ankara Staffan Herrstrom, who was told that Türkiye "strongly condemns this provocative act, which is clearly a hate crime, that Sweden's attitude is unacceptable, that Ankara expects the act not to be allowed, and insults to sacred values cannot be defended under the guise of democratic rights."
