Kabul strongly denounces burning of holy Quran in Sweden

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan on Sunday joined Turkey, Iran and several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordon in strongly condemning the burning of a copy of the holy Quran during a protest in Sweden.

The Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a series of tweets asked Sweden to punish the perpetrators of the incident.

According to reports, protestors during a rally outside the Turkish embassy set alight a copy of the Islam’s holy book in Sweden. The protest was held against Turkey and Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

The MoFA tweeted that the Islamic Emirate condemns the burning of and desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden in strongest terms.

The ministry called on the Swedish government to punish the perpetrators of the barbaric act and not to allow such brutal and provocative actions against the religion of Islam and Muslims.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the vile attack on our holy book ... Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait denounced the Quran-burning. "Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Quran-burning was carried out by Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line. Paludan, who also has Swedish citizenship, has held a number of demonstrations in the past where he has burned the Quran.

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