The protests in Pakistan against Sweden over the Quran burning incident on Eid are still continuing. On Friday, Juy 7, Pakistan observed a day of protests over the incident. On the same day, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Saad Hussein Rizvi said that Pakistan should declare war against Sweden in order to stop blasphemy against Islam.
In a Friday protest against Sweden, Tehreek-e-Labbaik chief Saad Rizvi says, "It'll take only 1 minute to stop blasphemy. Pakistan should tell the ambassador of Sweden that if they don't stop burning Quran, we'll declare war against them." pic.twitter.com/jZxH0nmy1L
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) July 7, 2023
Pakistan staged nationwide protests against Sweden post-Friday prayers days after a man tore up and burned a Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque on 28th June. The act led to massive anger among Muslim nations against Sweden even as the NATO secretary general defended it saying that the incident was offensive and objectionable, but not illegal.
Saad Hussein Rizvi said that the Pakistani PM along with its Navy, Army, and Air Force chiefs should summon the ambassador of Sweden to tell the latter that Pakistan is formed in the name of Islam and “you have insulted our Quran so we declare Ailan-e-Jung (war) against you”. He said that by doing so, blasphemy across the world would end in one minute.
The protests in Pakistan were called by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He wrote, “In order to express our feelings and emotions about the desecration of the Holy Quran at the hands of an unlucky person, we will all protest nationwide today under the title of Holy Quran Day and after Friday prayers all Pakistani Muslims Tabaqat will raise the flag of the Holy Quran and record their peaceful protest.”
میرے اہل وطن!
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 7, 2023
بات ہو قرآن کی تو قوم ایک ہے۔
سانحہ سویڈن پر پوری امتِ مسلمہ مضطرب ہے۔
ایک بد بخت کے ہاتھوں قرآن پاک کی بے حرمتی کے دلخراش واقعے پر اپنے جذبات اور احساسات کا اظہار کرنے کے لئے یوم تقدیس قرآن کے عنوان سے آج ہم سب یک آواز ہو کر ملک گیر احتجاج کریں گے اور بعد از…
Sharif on Friday passed a resolution in the Pakistan parliament urging Sweden to take “appropriate steps” against Quran desecration. Meanwhile, protesters staged a protest outside the Pakistan Supreme Court demanding severance of all diplomatic ties with Sweden.
Last week, a Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) threatened attacks on Christian minorities and churches in Pakistan in retaliation for the Quran-burning incident in Sweden.
Meanwhile in India, a former Mayor of Aligarh, Mohammad Furkan, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting strict action against those behind burning Quran in Sweden.
In what appears as retaliation, police in Stockholm had received three new applications to burn a Torah scroll and the Bible in front of the Israeli embassy in the country.
Similar incidents in the past
A Danish far-right politician burnt a copy of the Quran next to the Turkish embassy in the country’s capital prompting Turkey to halt discussions with Sweden about its NATO membership in late January.
Two other requests, one by a private citizen and the other by an organisation, for similar activities that include Quran burning were turned down by police in February outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm. The appeals court concluded in June that the protests should have been permitted. It ruled, “The order and security problems that the police had cited had not been clearly connected to the planned event or its immediate vicinity.”
Sweden is now reportedly mulling over amending the law to prevent a repeat of such incidents.
