Desecration of Holy Quran: FO hands over demarche to Swedish chargé d’affaires

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office Wednesday summoned the Swedish chargé d’affaires and handed him a demarche, expressing Pakistan’s strong disapproval of the desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden on Eidul Azha in presence of police.

The senior Swedish diplomat was told that such deliberate actions inciting discrimination, hatred, and violence could not be justified under the guise of freedom of expression and protest. It was emphasized that the right to freedom of expression and opinion should not be misused to fuel hatred or disrupt interfaith harmony. The Foreign Office, unlike the past, did not issue a formal statement about summoning the Swedish diplomat. But when senior officials were approached, they confirmed to The News that the Swedish chargé d’affaires had been summoned. However, no reason was given why there was no official statement.