ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of Muslims in Pakistan gathered on Friday to protest last week’s burning of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, in Stockholm following a call by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to “send a strong message to Sweden.”The biggest anti-Sweden protests were held in the eastern city of Lahore and Karachi, the largest city in the South Asian Islamic country, where thousands of people gathered on main roads before dispersing peacefully.
In the capital, Islamabad, lawyers holding copies of the Quran protested in front of the Supreme Court, while smaller groups of worshippers gathered outside mosques, demanding the severing of diplomatic ties with Sweden.
A group of minority Christians in the northwest also held a protest to denounce the incident.
Supporters of Pakistan’s main opposition party Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf and radical Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party also held demonstrations in all of the country’s major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta.
Anger has grown in Muslim countries since last Wednesday when a man, identified in Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian immigrant, burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on the festival of Eid al-Adha. Muslim leaders in Sweden have also denounced the incident.
In a televised speech to lawmakers in Pakistan’s parliament the previous day, Sharif asked why Swedish police allowed the burn …
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In the capital, Islamabad, lawyers holding copies of the Quran protested in front of the Supreme Court, while smaller groups of worshippers gathered outside mosques, demanding the severing of diplomatic ties with Sweden.
A group of minority Christians in the northwest also held a protest to denounce the incident.
Supporters of Pakistan’s main opposition party Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf and radical Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party also held demonstrations in all of the country’s major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta.
Anger has grown in Muslim countries since last Wednesday when a man, identified in Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian immigrant, burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on the festival of Eid al-Adha. Muslim leaders in Sweden have also denounced the incident.
In a televised speech to lawmakers in Pakistan’s parliament the previous day, Sharif asked why Swedish police allowed the burn …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]