Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday called upon the world to stand united against hatred, discrimination, intolerance, and promote mutual respect, understanding, and tolerance.
Virtually addressing a session of an urgent debate held by Human Rights Council on acts of religious hatred including the incident of the desecration of the Holy Quran, the foreign minister said unfortunately, the deliberate desecration of the Holy Quran had continued under government sanction and with the sense of impunity.
Increasingly, he said these acts were designed to maximize propagating hate. “We must see this incitement to hatred, discrimination and attempts to provoke violence. We must join hands in condemning it, we must isolate those who stroke hatred,” he said.
He said three months ago the first international day to combat Islamophobia was observed where the first ever session was held to mark the occasion at the UN General Assembly. The minister said the Holy Quran was a spiritual anchor for two billion Muslims. “It is important to understand the deep hurt that at public and premeditated act of Quran’s desecration causes to Muslims,” he remarked.
Terming the desecration of the Holy Quran as an attack on the Muslim’s faith, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the call in the draft text presented before this council for prevention and accountability was reasonable and necessary.
The minister said the hate speech and free speech must be segregated as the free speech was as indispensable as hate speech was indefensible.
There is not a single Muslim country on the planet that allows to the desecration of the holy text of other religions, he said adding such an act is unthinkable to any Muslim.
“It is forbidden by faith, by culture and by law,” he said. Last month, a man desecrated the Holy Quran in Sweden’s capital Stockholm, resulting in strong condemnation from several Muslim states, including Pakistan, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, Pope Francis and the Swedish government, among others.
In response to the incident, a motion was brought by Pakistan that sought a report from the UN rights chief on the topic and called on states to review their laws and plug gaps that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred”.
It highlighted rifts in the UN body between the West and a Muslim grouping, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, with Western members concerned about its implications for free speech and challenges posed to long-held practices in human rights protection.
During the debate on the contentious draft, other Muslim nations also joined Pakistan in condemning the act and called for accountability.
Bilawal’s remarks were echoed by ministers from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia with the latter calling the Holy Quran’s desecration an act of “Islamophobia”.
“Stop abusing freedom of expression,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. “Silence means complicity.” Germany’s ambassador Katharina Stasch called the burning a “dreadful provocation” and condemned it. But she added that “freedom of speech sometimes also means to bear opinions that may seem almost unbearable”. France’s envoy said human rights were about protecting people, not religions and their symbols.
