Thousands of people demonstrated across Pakistan on Friday to condemn the Koran burning in Sweden in late June, an act that sparked outrage across the Muslim world.
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On June 28, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, burned some pages of a copy of the Koran in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm and on the day of Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world.
In response, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week called for protests after the weekly Friday prayer and ordered the day to be dedicated to upholding the “sacredness of the Qur’an”.
Photo: AFP
Other political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s main opposition party, also seized the opportunity to profile themselves as defenders of Islam, not without ulterior motives in view of the upcoming elections this year.
Swedish flags were burned in several places across the country, including at the Sitara market in Islamabad.
Photo: AFP
“The Koran is our red line,” thundered the hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered at the market, demanding the severing of diplomatic relations with Sweden and the expulsion of its ambassador.
Some trampled on Swedish flags that read “#Boycott Sweden” and a crossed-out photo of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
In Karachi (south), the economic capital, around 3,000 supporters of the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party marched for kilometers, some banging sticks at effigies covered with the Swedish flag.
Photo: AFP
“Boycott his products”
The TLP, which has been behind several anti-blasphemy protests that have paralyzed major Pakistani cities in recent years, also gathered nearly 5,000 people in Lahore (east), the country’s second largest city, on Friday.
“The entire Islamic world should sever diplomatic relations with Sweden and put economic pressure on Sweden by boycotting its products,” Maulana Sheikh Tahir said in a sermon at a mosque in Islamabad.
The issue of blasphemy is particularly sensitive in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of violations of Islam can result in killings and lynchings.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution calling on Sweden to bring Momika to justice and “ensure such acts are not repeated in the future.”
More than 200 demonstrations were also held in the very conservative province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest), a local official told AFP.
“We cannot allow anyone to desecrate our holy Qur’an under the guise of the Freedom of Speech Law,” preacher Tayyab Qureshi told a thousand people in Peshawar, the provincial capital.