ISLAMABAD:Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has urged the international community to must condemn incidents of Islamophobia in Sweden and the Netherlands and take steps to check such abhorrent behaviour.

In a tweet on Tuesday, he said that people of Pakistan and Muslims around the world are deeply hurt by the recent incidents. The Prime Minister said we must stand united against Islamophobia. Earlier, the Foreign Office in a statement, said Pakistan strongly condemns the recent abhorrent act of desecration of the Holy Quran during rallies in Sweden.

It said these mindless provocative Islamophobic incidents serve no purpose other than hurting the sensitivities of over 1.5 billion Muslims living all over the world. Pakistan also strongly condemned the offensive remarks made by a Dutch politician, attacking Islam and the Muslim’s holy month of Ramadan.

It said such actions are not covered under legitimate expressions of the right to freedom of expression or opinion, which carry responsibilities under international human rights law, such as the obligation not to carry out hate speech and incite people to violence.