Danish-Sweden far-right politician Rasmus Ploudan set fire to the Holy Quran after criticizing and insulting Islam outside the Turkish embassy in Sweden. He told the protestors that if they think there should not be freedom of speech, they should live somewhere else.
Following Sweden’s permission for anti-Islamic protests, Muslims around the world, including Pakistan and Turkey, strongly condemned the criticism of Islam and the burning and desecration of the Holy Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs has called the act a senseless and provocative Islamophobic act that hurts the religious sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
According to the Foreign Office, such actions are not covered under any legitimate expression of the right to freedom of expression or opinion. Freedom of speech carries responsibilities under international human rights law, such as the obligation not to carry out hate speech and incite people to violence.
“Islam is a religion of peace and Muslims, including in Pakistan, believe in respecting all religions. These principles must be supported by all,” the Foreign Office added.
The Turkish foreign ministry also has released a statement which condemned the vile attack on the holy book in the strongest possible terms. “Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated.
Responding to Pludan’s desecration of the Holy Quran and anti-Islam slogans, Turkey has canceled the scheduled visit of the defense minister of Sweden in protest about raising slogans against Islam and desecrating the Holy Quran. According to the Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, “the meeting is no longer important, so we canceled it.”