Pakistan has strongly condemned the despicable act of public burning of the Holy Quran outside a mosque in Sweden on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. According to the spokesperson, such wilful incitement to discrimination, hatred, and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest.
The Spokesperson noted that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a license to stoke hatred and sabotage inter-faith harmony.
There had been a continuous up trend in the rise of Islamophobia in so-called Western democracies that recurrent incidents of hate crimes, religious bigotry and desecration of the holy Quran and Islamic verses became customary in certain nations in Europe and North America. Similarly, Muslims have been subject to violence and discrimination in Hindu majority India, however the situation became worst since the Modi led BJP regime took control of the country years ago.
There had been a sharp spike in anti-Muslim slur where Hindu extremists hold regular rallies in show up of Hindu supremacy, to wage war against minorities, specifically attack Muslims and their properties for the stated purpose of vanishing Muslim from India. There is an endless series of anti-Muslim incidents including the profanation of poise personality, desecration of the Holy Quran, physical attacks on Mosques, Muslims and their properties across India in recent years under the BJP regime.
Ironically, the western nations and drummers for human and religious rights displayed extreme religious bigotry and tried to reduce the sensitivity of such grave crime by linking it with freedom of expression and civil liberties. Meanwhile the world so-called largest democracy is blatantly is blatantly involved in ethnic cleansing of over 220 million Muslims in its country to transform itself a pure Hindu nation state.
Historically, hate speech and racial crimes had been increased in recent years after the rise of Nationalism and far-right politics in nations across the world because far-right politicians and religious clerics use hate speech and racism to boost their politics and public rating in the country. Islamophobia is a manifestation of hate speech and religiously motivated crimes against Muslims due to their beliefs, religious attire, physical appearance, culture, and traditions had been shaped into a grave challenge worldwide.
Previously, the Muslim nations particularly Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey through the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) have raised the issue of Islamiohobia at the United Nations. The global forum condemned Islamophobia in all its forms and manifestation and designated March 15 as a global day to combat Islamophobia to create awareness against hateful acts, racism, and religious bigotry against Islam and Muslims in the world.
However, despite acknowledgment of the seriousness and scope of the issue at the UN, the Islamophobic incidents in European nations and other countries particularly India, are still happening unceasingly. Presently, Muslims residing in non-Muslim nations feel themselves insecure and deprived of their basic rights and religious freedoms while those provocative actions hurt over 1.5 billion Muslims across the world.
The western nations, who usually claimed to be the so-called advocate of human rights and religious freedom around the globe, unashamedly, adopted a policy of utter denial of religious bigotry regarding rising Islamophobic incidents in their homelands, such biased approach not only led to an increase in crimes against humanity but also restricts global efforts to curb anti-Muslim sentiment worldwide.
In fact, a mere recognition of an issue, it’s condemnation and adoption of a symbolic resolution against Islamophobia by the global community was not sufficient to curb a menace that exist worldwide.
Because, the 21st century and the world, still have multiple rulers and political groups , who are such cruel to use anti-Muslim bias, hatred and racism to hurt billions of Muslims across the globe in a bid to flourish their politics in the contemporary world. Unfortunately, in this era of literary, development and innovations, the world has no scarcity of extremist leaders like Narendra Modi, Donald Trump, Viktor Orban and Georgia Melony who feel proud in inciting hate and ultra-nationalism against weak segment of society, other religions, ethnicities and immigrants.
According to international law, States are duty-bound to prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred, leading to incitement of violence. The recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents in the west during the past few years calls into serious question the legal framework which permits such hate-driven actions in those nations. The international community and the national governments across the world must undertake credible and concrete measures to prevent the rising incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-Muslim hatred.
At the same time, it is the duty of the United Nations to play its role of a regulator to ensure that member states sufficiently employ it’s decisions and no state, individual or a specific group violate global rules, UN decisions and attack other religion, group or community in any garb. The Muslim countries also take up the case at the state level with the concerned nations and launch a fresh campaign at the UN to approve Islamophobic acts as prosecutable crimes so the wrongdoers resist discrimination against Muslims due to the fear of reprisal and punishment.
