KARACHI-Sindh Assembly on Wednesday passed a unanimous resolution to condemn desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and called upon the federal government to end diplomatic and trade ties with the Northern European country.
The house deferred all its business to take up identical resolutions moved by Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sharmila Faruqui, Muhammad Hussain Khan of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Syed Abdul Rasheed of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s Mufti Muhammad Qasim Fakhri and Nand Kumar Goklani of Grand Democratic Alliance.
Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani clubbed all identical resolutions condemning the henious act of violating the Holy Quran’s sanctity and called for effective measures from Pakistan’s foreign ministry to stop such incidents in the future. One of the resolutions moved by the TLP member read that Swedish embassy in Pakistan should be closed down in protests against the incident and trade with it must also be ended.
“The House unequivocally condemns the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and expresses its solidarity with the global Muslim community in their distress. This house condemns that the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden has deeply saddened and offended Muslims worldwide, highlighting the prevalent issue of Islamophobia in the western society,” the other resolution tabled by Sharmila Faruqui read.
It added that the despicable act of the public burning of a copy of the holy book in Stockholm on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adlia sparked worldwide protests and outrage. Such sacrilegious acts undermine religious harmony and tolerance leaving the muslim community feeling marginalized and discriminated.
“This House also acknowledges and appreciates the convening of the OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] session for providing a platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia. This house urges the federal government to take this issue with Swedish Government and International community to ensure legislation and appropriate actions so that such actions are not be repeated in future,” the resolution read.
Speaking on the occasion, Sharmila Faruqui said that the desecration was a premiditated attempt the muslims’ ideological borders. She said that almost two billion muslims had been deeply hurt after the henious act. Syed Abdul Rasheed of the MMA said that the leaders of muslim countries were not able to react against the such acts accordingly. He asked the federal governmnet to summon the Swedish ambassador. The MMA lawmaker also asked Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to take up the matter at every appropriate forum in effective manner.
MQM-P’s Muhammad Hussain Khan said that the desecration of the Holy Quran was done outside the mosque when the muslims were offering Eid-ul-Adha prayer. “The desecration cannot be allowed under the garb of freedom of expression,” he viewed.
TLP Parliamentary Leader Mufti Qasim Fakhri said that such incidents were happening in western countries on regular interventions. He demanded the federal government to end diplomatic and trade ties with Sweden.
Abdul Razzaque Razzaque of GDA said that everone’s sentiments had been hurt by the henious act. PPP’s Sohrab Sarki, Parveen Basheer Qaimkhani, Imdad Pitafi, Giyan Chand Israni, Lal Chand Ukrani, Surrendra Vellasai, Munawwar Wassan and Mukesh Kumar Chawla; MQM-P’s Mangla Sharma, Rabia Khatoon, Rana Ansar and Rashid Khilji; and two dissident members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Deewan Sachand and Karim Bux Gabol also spoke.
Legislation
Separately,the house unanimoulsy adopted The Sindh Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and The Partnership (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2022 while The Sindh Social Protection Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Sindh Goth-Abad (Housing Scheme) (Amendment) Bill, 2023 were introduced and sent to standing committee. Later, the house was adjourned to Thursday (today).