Islamabad: The Holy Qur'an has been repeatedly vandalised and burned in Sweden and Denmark, according to reports from Pakistani state media on Friday. On July 31, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold an extraordinary virtual session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of member states to discuss these incidents. 

The event occurred a few days after a group of anti-Islam activists vandalised the Qur'an outside the embassies of Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey in Copenhagen, following similar incidents in Sweden that infuriated Muslims in recent weeks. 

The OIC executive committee issued a statement on July 2 that addressed the burning of a copy of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden and demanded high-level emergency meetings of the group. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Chair of the 14th Islamic Summit, and the Republic of Iraq requested the OIC CFM session in response. 

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According to the state-run APP news agency in Pakistan, "the meeting is being held considering the consultations the OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha has had with the member states regarding the implementation of the final statement issued by the Executive Committee." 

In response to the ongoing provocative actions that show intentional religious hatred and intolerance, additional measures are also being considered. 

After Denmark and Sweden recently permitted the burning of the Qur'an in accordance with laws protecting free speech, protests broke out throughout the Muslim world, especially in Iran and Iraq. On Thursday, protesters in Iraq set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. 

Outside of Pakistan's embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Thursday, a holy book was desecrated and the nation's flag was disrespected. Pakistan denounced these actions and urged the Danish government to "stop such act of hatred and incitement." 

Additionally, Pakistan was a co-sponsor of a resolution this week that the UN General Assembly adopted to combat hate speech and denounce assaults on holy sites, religious symbols, and books of the Bible. 

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The text of the resolution, according to Pakistan's Mission Counsellor Bilal Chaudhry, resonated with the one on religious hatred that Pakistan presented on behalf of the OIC and was just recently adopted at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. He expressed his "profound satisfaction" over the resolution's passage. 

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He cited the historic resolution, which denounced "all advocacy and manifestations of religious hatred, including recent public and premeditated acts that have desecrated the Qur'an" and called for nations to pass legislation that would allow them to prosecute offenders.