Pakistan Urges UN To Take Steps For Promoting Inter-faith Harmony

Pakistan has urged the United Nations to take urgent steps to promote inter-faith harmony, while citing the “despicable act” of desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida on Tuesday.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Pakistan’s permanent representative, Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, voiced Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the burning of the Islamic holy book and expressed “profound regret and deep concern” at the increasing acts of Islamophobia and growing trend of intolerance and hatred towards Muslims as well as insults to their religious symbols and personalities.
Terry Jones, the controversial American pastor, oversaw the burning of a copy of the Quran at his small Florida church after the Islamic revered book was put on trial. “While this reprehensible act is the work of extremists and is evidently designed to provoke dissent and discord among communities and peoples across the world, such sacrilegious acts also go against the very concept of inter-faith harmony and threaten the multicultural fabric of the societies and the brotherhood of the United Nations,“ the letter said.
As strong active proponent of inter-faith harmony, the ambassador said Pakistan believes that civilized peoples and societies must resist and oppose any tendency towards extremism of any kind. Pakistan expects that the US Administration and American people as well as all civilized societies will take due cognizance and express their revulsion on this sacrilegious act.