Pakistan strongly condemns Quran burning in Sweden

Pakistan has strongly condemned the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran in Sweden on the first day of Eid al-Adha, Islam's major religious festival, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"Such wilful incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Pakistan's concerns about the incident have been conveyed to Sweden.

The recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents during the last few months in the West calls into serious question the legal framework which permits such hate-driven actions, it added.

"We reiterate that the right to freedom of expression and opinion does not provide a license to stoke hatred and sabotage inter-faith harmony," said the ministry.

In the Swedish capital Stockholm, a person identified as Salwan Momika on Wednesday burned the Quran in front of the Stockholm Mosque, according to media reports.

Momika, who came in front of the mosque at the Medbargareplatsen square, threw the Quran on the ground, stepped on it, uttered insulting words against Islam, and set the book on fire, the reports said.