Pakistan, Afghanistan condemn desecration of Holy Quran in Netherlands

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) – Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the recent attack on Islam’s holy book the Quran in The Hague, Netherlands.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it is undoubtedly a provocative Islamophobic hate crime committed under the guise of freedom of expression.

“Such offensive acts deeply hurt the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world and can create disharmony among the international community," said the ministry.

Islamabad urged the international community to raise its voice against Islamophobia and work together to promote inter-faith harmony and peaceful coexistence under the spirit behind the resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022 to mark March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

"We also believe that it is the responsibility of national governments and the international community at large to prevent such vile acts, which are perpetrated with the ulterior motive to provoke and incite religious hatred and violence," it added.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban administration also condemned the act and called on the Muslim world to adopt a united position.

“IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) calls on the Dutch government to punish the extremist and end his political activities to prevent the systematic spread of contempt, bigotry, and hatred towards the sacred religion of Islam and Muslims,” the Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We also call on the leaders of Islamic countries to adopt a united position towards such actions so the Muslims can effectively defend their religion," it added.

A video on social media on Monday showed Edwin Wagensveld, a far-right Dutch politician and leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida, tearing out pages from a copy of the Holy Quran in The Hague. The video then showed the politician burning the torn-out pages of the holy book in a pan.

The provocation came close on the heels of a similar incident last Saturday in which Rasmus Paludan, an extremist Swedish-Danish politician, burned a copy of the Holy Quran near the Turkish Embassy in the Swedish capital Stockholm, triggering outrage both in Türkiye and worldwide.