Muslims throughout Pakistan maintain anti-Sweden protests to denounce burning of Islam’s holy ebook

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ISLAMABAD — Hundreds of Muslims in Pakistan gathered on Friday to protest final week’s burning of the Quran, Islam’s holy ebook, in Stockholm following a name by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to “ship a powerful message to Sweden.”

The most important anti-Sweden protests have been held within the japanese metropolis of Lahore and Karachi, the biggest metropolis within the South Asian Islamic nation, the place 1000’s of individuals gathered on principal roads earlier than dispersing peacefully.

Within the capital, Islamabad, legal professionals holding copies of the Quran protested in entrance of the Supreme Court docket, whereas smaller teams of worshippers gathered exterior mosques, demanding the severing of diplomatic ties with Sweden.

A gaggle of minority Christians within the northwest additionally held a protest to denounce the incident.

Supporters of Pakistan’s principal opposition get together Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf and radical Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan get together additionally held demonstrations in the entire nation’s main cities, together with Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta.

Anger has grown in Muslim nations since final Wednesday when a person, recognized in Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian immigrant, burned a Quran exterior a mosque in Stockholm on the competition of Eid al-Adha. Muslim leaders in Sweden have additionally denounced the incident.

In a televised speech to lawmakers in Pakistan’s parliament the day prior to this, Sharif requested why Swedish police allowed the burning of the Quran.

On Friday, he urged his supporters “to ship a powerful message to Sweden” by taking to the streets.

“In terms of the Quran, the nation is one,” Sharif wrote on Twitter. “We’ll all protest nationwide immediately underneath the title of Sanctity of Quran Day and after Friday prayers.”

The same name for protests was issued by Imran Khan, the previous premier who was changed by Sharif in April 2022 after his ouster by means of a movement of no-confidence within the parliament.

Nonetheless, the followers of Khan, Sharif, and different events held separate protests throughout the nation.

Pakistan’s Overseas Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari additionally tweeted on Friday amid the nationwide demonstrations, saying the “desecration of the Quran in Sweden is one other instance of the rising Islamophobic mindset that seeks to dehumanise and denigrate our religion.”

He wrote that the incident was a blatant provocation making an attempt to “inflame sentiments and undermine Islam as a faith of peace, tolerance, and acceptance.”

Bhutto Zardari mentioned Pakistan will handle the difficulty on the United Nations on July 11.

These holding anti-Sweden protests included a radical get together, Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan (TLP), which beforehand held violent protest to sentence the desecration of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

TLP referred to as for a boycott of all Swedish merchandise and the reducing of diplomatic ties till the person accountable for the burning of the Quran is punished. It gained prominence in Pakistan’s 2018 elections, campaigning on the one difficulty of defending the nation’s blasphemy legislation, which requires the loss of life penalty for anybody who insults Islam.

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