Massive protests in Pakistan against Quran-burning in Sweden

Islamabad, Jul 7 (EFE).- Thousands of people protested in Pakistan on Friday against the burning of a copy of the holy Quran in Sweden last week, an act considered blasphemous in Islam, which has triggered international outrage, especially in Islamic nations.

The day was observed across Pakistan as the Yaum-e-Taqaddus Quran (Sanctity of Quran Day) on an appeal by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who called for nationwide protests to uphold the sanctity of the sacred Islamic text and protest against its desecration in Sweden.

Demonstrations were also organized by the main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, led by former prime minister Imran khan.

Protests were held across all the major cities of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar and others, with participants carrying copies of the Quran and reiterating their commitment to protecting its sanctity.

They also called for a boycott of Sweden-made products and urged the government to ban them.

In the capital, lawyers protested in front of the Supreme Court with Qurans in their hands, while some of the gatherings took place outside mosques after weekly Friday prayers.

On Thursday, Sharif took part in a joint session of the parliament aimed at devising a national plan of action over the incident in Sweden, and urged all nations to check Islamophobia and religious prejudice.

On Jun. 28, the first day of the Eid-al-Adha celebrations across the Islamic world, an Iraqi-origin person burned a copy of the Quran in Stockholm in an act attended by 200 persons amid heavy police deployment due to it being held during the Muslim festival. No clashes were reported from the Nordic country at the time.

However, the act – carried out with permission from Sweden’s police – has been condemned both officially and by people across the Arab and Islamic world, with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates summoning the Swedish envoys in their capitals to lodge protests. EFE

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