Thousands rally in Pakistan to condemn Koran burning
The Hindu
Others trampled on modified Swedish flags that read “#Boycott Sweden”
Thousands of people rallied in streets across Pakistan Friday to condemn a Koran burning in Sweden that has outraged Muslims around the world.
Last week, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, stomped on the Muslim holy book and set several pages alight outside a Stockholm mosque.
His act came as Muslims across the globe began celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday and as the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was drawing to a close.
Earlier this week Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for countrywide protests against the burning, declaring Friday "a day to uphold the Koran's sanctity".
Several political parties used the occasion to trumpet their Islamic credentials ahead of an election that must be held later this year, including former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
In the finance hub of Karachi, about 3,000 supporters of the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) marched for kilometres on Friday, with some beating effigies draped in Swedish flags.
About 5,000 more TLP members rallied in one of at least a dozen protests held in the second-largest city of Lahore.
With a new government in place in Delhi, Singapore hopes to schedule the Ministerial Roundtable with India shortly, says Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. In an exclusive interview, he speaks about the impact of the elections on ties, the “missed opportunity” of RCEP and the new buzz around Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.