India on Wednesday supported Pakistan’s resolution at the United Nations that condemned the Quran burning in Sweden. The Human Rights Council, the UN’s top human rights body, approved a measure calling on countries to do more to prevent religious hatred in the wake of Quran burnings in Europe. The resolution was backed by many developing countries in Africa and the Middle East, as well as China and India.
Among the countries that voted against the resolution were the US, UK, France, Finland, Belgium, Germany, and others. The resolution was passed with 28 votes while 12 opposed and 7 were absent.
The resolution, which comes in the wake of recent Quran burnings in parts of Europe, calls on countries to take steps to “prevent and prosecute acts and advocacy of religious hatred that constitute an incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”.
After the vote, Ambassador Khalil Hashmi of Pakistan insisted the measure did not seek to curtail the right to free speech but it tried to strike a “prudent balance” between it and “special duties and responsibilities”.
“The opposition of a few in the room has emanated from their unwillingness to condemn the public desecration of the Holy Quran or any other religious book,” Hashmi said. “They lack the political, legal, and moral courage to condemn this act, and it was the minimum that the council could have expected from them.”
On Tuesday, Michele Taylor, the US ambassador to the council, said that the United States strongly condemned the acts, including the desecration of the Holy Quran on June 28. He referred to the incident in Sweden last month that fanned massive protests in some Muslim communities.
