TEHRAN- Iran has said it wholly supports Pakistani government’s plan to declare July 7 as the “Day of Honoring the Holy Quran” in light of recent aggressive attempts to defile the revered Muslim book that have received tacit backing from the West.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in Islamabad released a statement on Friday praising the decision of the renowned government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to designate and observe July 7 as the Day of Honoring the Holy Quran.

“It is crucial to acknowledge that desecrating the Holy Quran represents an affront to the holy books of all divine religions,” the embassy highlighted. 

“We firmly believe such biased actions seek to incite public opinion, generate instability, create violence and spread hatred. Undoubtedly, this biased way of inciting public opinion through insulting the holy symbols, which are meant to destabilize the Muslim world and create human legal cases, should be countered and neutralized,” it added. 

The Iranian embassy also urged all believers and free minds to unite in a common effort to condemn the sacrilege.

“Islamophobia, the insulting of sacred elements and symbols of the divine religions, and the desecration of holy books should be halted through political synergy, legal procedures and appropriate didactic instructions as these actions provide fertile ground for the spreading of hatred and violence, ideological clashes, destabilization and the anguish of countless religious individuals worldwide,” the statement noted.

The embassy went on to state, “To rectify this situation, it is imperative to employ coordinated and unifying measures such as clarification, explanation, education, legal procedures and dialogue. These constructive approaches will pave the way for correcting the current state of affairs.”

The statement came more than a week after a man set fire to a copy of the Quran outside the Stockholm Central Mosque as Muslims were celebrating Eid al-Adha, one of the major feasts commemorating the culmination of the Hajj pilgrimage. 

A Swedish court had given permission for two men to burn a copy of the Quran.

Muslim and non-Muslim nations have vehemently denounced the sacrilegious conduct. 

On Friday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated around Pakistan to protest the Swedish court’s desecration of the sacred book.

Large-scale protests took place in Peshawar, the nation’s northwest, as well as other significant cities. 

After Friday prayers, protests were underway as people vented their outrage over the event.

Pakistan’s Parliament passed a resolution earlier this week in a joint session requesting Sweden to take “appropriate steps” to punish those responsible for the event.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the importance of the countrywide rallies, which have included political parties, lawyers, and members of the Christian minority.

In a tweet, Sharif stated that he had expressed Pakistan’s strong disapproval of such Islamophobic activities to Hissein Ibrahim Taha, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).

General Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, has called for an urgent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the burning of the Quran.

Gharibabadi made the demand while speaking with Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Thursday, in Geneva. 

He vehemently denounced the act and asked the UN council to take quick remedial measures.

Gharibabadi stressed that the act of desecration does not comply with freedom of expression and instead promotes violence and hatred.

On June 30, the Foreign Ministry reacted to the despicable act and summoned the Scandinavian country’s chargé d’affaires to Tehran.

The ministry condemned the insult against the most important Islamic sanctities, saying the Swedish government’s silence and passive behavior embolden violators of one of the basic and obvious principles of human rights, namely the principle of respect for religious and divine values, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

Gharibabadi lambasted the UN human rights procedures for having double standards and urged the Human Rights Council to follow its fundamental objective.