THE Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) stepped up its diplomatic initiative at the UN over the latest desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden as outrage against Islamophobia spread across the Muslim world on Friday. Saudi Arabia, Iran and several other countries summoned Swedish envoys to express their indignation at the Stockholm incident, while Turkiye issued arrest warrants of the persons responsible for the provocative act in Denmark. A delegation of OIC countries, including Pakistan, called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Security Council’s President Barbara Woodward on Thursday to apprise him of the intense anger in the Muslim world.
The blanket permission being granted to some unscrupulous elements to desecrate holy books and religious personalities threatens the peace of the world as such dastardly acts are going to fuel the fire of extremism and widen the trust deficit between civilizations. It is a perfect case for the United Nations to take urgent and serious notice of Islamophobic incidents but regrettably the ‘wait and see’ approach adopted by the world body is encouraging the perpetrators of such crimes to continue with their insane actions. The focus of the OIC to shake the conscience of the international community through collaborative moves at the UN and other forums is understandable but being the representative body of the Muslim Ummah, the OIC needs to do more as it was because of lack of a coordinated and effective response that prompted Sweden to insult the last revealed message (book) of the Almighty and injure feelings and sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims in the name of freedom of expression. Repetition of sacrilegious acts in several western countries for the last many years is reflection of the failure of the OIC to formulate a workable strategy to make perpetrators of the crime to pay. In the face of an intensive propaganda campaign against Islam and its followers, who are being equated with terrorism and extremism, the Muslim world has been making futile calls for peaceful co-existence without getting a matching response from the other side. While condemning the latest incident in Sweden in the strongest terms, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to launch a campaign to end the sacrilege of the holy books in the Nordic State and one hopes this would also include other retaliatory aspects than mere diplomatic means.
