LAHORE:Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Monday strongly condemned
desecration of the Holy Quran and urged the government to raise the matter at international fora.
“It is a vile act of racism, the business community strongly condemns this tragic incident
and urges the international community to take a strong stand against it as this is not the
freedom of expression but the terrorism,” LCCI President Kashif Anwar, Senior Vice
President Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry and Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt said in a
statement issued here.
They said that it was a good omen that the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)
immediately convened a meeting but a unanimous strategy by the world was direly
needed to stop such vile acts.
The LCCI office-bearers said that desecration of the Holy Quran or any other holy
book was a crime. They said that racism and xenophobia should not have any place
in any part of the world. The Muslims respect everyone and everyone should respect
Muslims, they added.
They said that such an act contradicted international efforts to spread the tolerance
and peace. All the countries around the globe should take effective measures to avoid
such ugly acts, they added.
The office-bearers of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that such
willful despicable act could not be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression.
They said the government should conveyed the concern about the ugly act to the
international community and should also demand concrete measures to prevent
the rising incidents of Islamophobia as the act had hurt the sentiments of billions
of Muslims.