DUSHANBE, April 6, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Islamic Revival Party’s political council yesterday released strongly condemning burning of a copy of Islam’s holy book by the pastor of a small evangelic church in the U.S. state of Florida.
The statement, in particular, notes that this action is “a pure extremism and assessed a crime against human values.”
According to the statement, the desecration of the Koran may affect dialogue between cultures and civilizations and lead to interethnic conflicts.
In its statement, IRP’s political council calls on official governments of countries throughout the world and international organizations to condemn this monstrous act of vandalism.
The controversial US evangelical preacher on March 20 oversaw the burning of a copy of the Koran in a small Florida church after finding the Muslim holy book “guilty” of crimes. The burning was carried out by pastor Wayne Sapp under the supervision of Terry Jones, who last September drew sweeping condemnation over his plan to ignite a pile of Korans on the anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks. The event was presented as a trial of the book in which the Koran was found “guilty” and “executed.” The jury deliberated for about eight minutes. The book, which had been soaking for an hour in kerosene, was put in a metal tray in the center of the church, and Sapp started the fire with a barbecue lighter. The event was open to the public, but fewer than 30 people attended.
Jones had drawn trenchant condemnation from many people, including US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, over his plan to burn the Muslim holy book in September.
Official authorities of many Muslim nations, including Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan strongly condemned burning of the Koran calling it a setback for global efforts to promote harmony and sent an appeal to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
This deliberate desecration of Islam’s holy book caused demonstrations of protest in Afghanistan. At least 22 people, including seven foreign UN staffers, have been killed in protests in Afghanistan over the March 20 burning of the Koran. According to international media outlets, fresh demonstrations took place in Kabul on April 5. Hundreds of students gathered at the university in Kabul chanting slogans such as, “We want the burner of the Koran to be tried.”
