'Attack on Muslim faith': Pakistan seeks action against Quran burning incident at UN

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday termed the desecration of the Holy Quran as an "attack on the Muslim faith", calling on the world to stand united against hatred, discrimination, and intolerance. 

Last month, a person — who migrated from Iraq to Sweden — burned pages of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on the first day of Eid ul Adha, prompting outrage in the Muslim world and condemnation from Pope Francis.

Bilawal condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran, saying that it had continued under government sanction and with a sense of impunity the UN Human Rights Council held an urgent debate to address recent incidents related to the Quran. 

Pakistan and other nations called for a discussion of "the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries."

Pakistan and other members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation hope to get a resolution passed on the issue on Tuesday or later in the week.

Virtually addressing a session of an urgent debate held by the Human Rights Council on acts of religious hatred, Bilawal called upon the world to stand united against hatred, discrimination, and intolerance, and promote mutual respect, understanding, and tolerance.

“We must see this incitement to hatred, discrimination and attempts to provoke violence. We must join hands in condemning it, we must isolate those who stroke hatred,” he said, adding that these acts were designed to maximise propagating hate.

FM Bilawal said three months ago the first international day to combat Islamophobia was observed where the first-ever session was held to mark the occasion at the UN General Assembly.

The minister remarked the Holy Quran was a spiritual anchor for two billion Muslims. “It is important to understand the deep hurt that the public and premeditated act of Quran’s desecration causes to Muslims."

Terming the desecration of the Holy Quran as an attack on the Muslim faith, Bilawal said the call in the draft text presented before this council for prevention and accountability was reasonable and necessary.

The minister said that hate speech and free speech must be segregated as free speech was as indispensable as hate speech was indefensible.

"There is not a single Muslim country on the planet that allows the desecration of the holy text of other religions," he said adding such an act is unthinkable to any Muslim.

“It is forbidden by faith, by culture and by law,” he added.

Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said that these attacks appear tailor-made to inflame anger and divide communities as he opened the debate at the UN's top rights body in Geneva. 

Turk said recent Quran-burning incidents "appear to have been manufactured to express contempt and inflame anger; to drive wedges between people; and to provoke, transforming differences of perspective into hatred and, perhaps, violence".

He said that irrespective of the law or personal belief, "people need to act with respect for others", adding that hate speech needed to be combated through dialogue, education, raising awareness and inter-faith engagement. 

"Powered by the tidal forces of social media, and in a context of increasing international and national discord and polarisation, hate speech of every kind is rising, everywhere," Turk said.

"It is harmful to individuals, and it damages the social cohesion necessary to the sound functioning of all societies."