Islamabad, July 05: After high drama has been unleashed ex-Muslim man burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for nationwide protests on Friday.

 

The desecration of the Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque on Eid-Ul-Adha sparked widespread condemnation from several countries including Turkey, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, and Iran, as well as the European Union.

 

July 7 will be observed as Yaum-i-Taqaddus Quran, a day to “uphold the Quran’s sanctity”.

 

Citing a statement shared by Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) on Twitter, Sharif discussed the Sweden incident during a meeting held on Tuesday. People across the nation, irrespective of their political leanings were urged to “unitedly give a message to the miscreants”, as per the statement.

 

 

The statement released by PML-N quoted Sharif as saying: “Honouring the Holy Quran is part of our faith, [and] we are all united for it.” Sharif also directed his party to “fully participate” in the protests.

 

“Misguided minds are following a nefarious agenda by spreading the negative trend of Islamophobia. Peace-loving nations and leaders around the world who believe in co-existence should block the path of violent forces victim to Islamophobia and religious prejudices.”

 

Further, he stated that "violent minds targeting religion, venerated personalities, beliefs and ideas" were a threat to world peace and urged nations to work unitedly to solve such trends and incidents.

 

A joint Parliamentary session is also scheduled on Thursday to formulate a national plan of action on the Sweden incident. Sharif also mentioned passing a joint resolution on the incident. He also put forth the demand to Sweden’s government to take "notice of the Islamophobic and hateful narrative against the Muslim population in their country".

 

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also held an urgent meeting on the issue and Sharif endorsed it. The OIC group including countries like Algeria, Malaysia, Qatar, Sudan, Somalia, and the UAE looks forward to actions to curb recurrences and the development of legal deterrence measures against such incidents. Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent session to address the desecration incident following a request from Pakistan.