ISLAMABAD -UNS: Pakistan on Monday strongly condemned yet another incident of the desecration of the Holy Quran in The Netherlands, calling upon the European country to take swift action against such “hateful and Islamophobic acts”.
“Pakistan condemns in the strongest terms the latest senseless and deeply offensive act of desecration of the Holy Quran that took place in The Hague, the Netherlands in front of some embassies of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) member countries, including Pakistan,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a press release issued today.
Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah had reported on Saturday that Dutch far-right activist Edwin Wagensveld, who leads the Dutch branch of the far-right group Pegida, had desecrated the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish, Pakistani and Indonesian embassies in the Hague and “insulted Islam and Muslims”.
The FO said the “deliberately provocative and Islamophobic act” hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world and such actions could not be condoned under the “guise of freedom of expression, opinion and protest”.
It added that Pakistan had conveyed its concerns to the Dutch authorities, urging them to be “mindful of the sentiments” of the people of Pakistan and Muslims around the world and take active steps to prevent such “hateful and Islamophobic acts”.
