ALI SUKHANVER
Where there is a will, there is a way; it is an old saying. Whatever be the situation, whatever be the gravity and severity of conflicts and clashes, issues could be settled down through table-talk and negotiation but the most important ingredient of all that process is the will to resolve the issues. In spite of all our social and moral maturity and in spite of all our achievements in the field of science and technology, if we are still unsuccessful in making today’s world hatred free, terrorism free, it means we lack that required will. Recently, in the last few weeks, two incidents of burning of the Holy Quran have been reported; one in Sweden and the other one in Denmark. These two incidents are the worst example of lack of our will to resolve the issues which simply tarnish the serene face of our world. Though it is unfair to hold responsible the whole community for the misdoings of an individual but these two incidents prompted widespread anger throughout the Muslim world and resultantly widened the breach between the Muslims and the rest of the world. Thank God Almighty that the reaction to the action of burning the Holy Quran was wisely pacified by those who desire to see this world conflict and clash free but such issues need no doubt a permanent  solution. The most effective way of putting things in a peaceful order is to convince all stake-holders through table-talk and make them realize that this world of us could no more afford sailing in self-created troubled waters.   
In the first incident, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee in Sweden was reported to be the person who burnt the pages of the Holy Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on June 28th. It is something very unfortunate that before doing this criminal activity, Salwan was allegedly granted official permission of doing so. Condemning Sweden's decision of granting permission of burning the Holy Quran to an ‘extremist’ Iraq's foreign ministry in an official statement said that such acts simply ‘inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation’. According to Swedish media reports, it was a well-planned incident and the target was to highlight Islamophobia; a term always rejected by the Muslim world. Salwan Momika is an Iraqi Christian who had fled to Sweden from Iraq several years ago, after being charged with multiple legal complaints, including deception. Earlier, Iraq has officially asked Sweden to repatriate him in order to be prosecuted according to the Iraqi penal code. “In spite of a very sensitive criminal history, the Swedish Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections in the country.” say media reports. According to the New Arab News, Momika was "an opportunist" seeking public fame, but had failed even to gain support from his Christian community in Iraq. 
The Swedish Security Service is a very well organized, skilled and competent organization, it must be aware of Salwan Momika’s mysterious and secretive past. As pointed out in different reports, he had remained attached with several militia organizations in the past. President of the Future Foundation Washington DC Entifadh Qanbar blamed in a tweet that he had allegedly been a very active member of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Force (PMF). Reports say that when arrived in Sweden, Momika volunteered to work at a right-extremist Swedish party known for its hostility towards migrants, Muslims and Arabs. The main agenda of this party has been running a campaign to deport Arab migrants from the country. In response to Momika’s loathsome act, all over the Muslim world, a very serious reaction was observed. Different Muslim organizations raised their voices against this atrocity and even the UN was asked to intervene the matter for a justice-based solution to the issue. 
According to the Aljazeera, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) approved a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry in the wake of burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden that has led to protests across the Muslim world but the motion was opposed by the United States and the European Union. They said the motion conflicts with their positions on human rights and freedom of expression. The stance of the United States and the European Union on the issue in the United Nations Human Rights Council was seriously criticized rather condemned by the Muslims world. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a statement, “Stop abusing freedom of expression. Silence means complicity.” It is something very positive that some of the Non-Muslim activists also condemned the approach adopted by the United States and the European Union. Volker Turk, the UN human rights’ chief said in his address to the UNHRC that inflammatory acts against Muslims, as well as other religions or minorities, are “offensive, irresponsible and wrong”. The government of Sweden also discouraged the incident but maintained that the country has a constitutionally-protected right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration. 
It was simply the result of that ‘constitutional freedom of expression’ that another incident of the same nature was repeated in front of the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen in the last week of July 2023. According to media reports, this criminal act was performed by a far-right, ultra-nationalist group called ‘the Danish Patriots’. It is being apprehended that such type of hate-crimes would keep on repeating time and again if the World-Powers don’t do sincere efforts for putting an end to them. Every act of injustice, based on prejudice, partiality and discrimination leads to more cruelties, more atrocities. Be it Denmark, Sweden or the Illegally Indian Occupied Kashmir, for a long lasting peace and harmony, the only thing required is Justice. If the world peace makers had listened to the voices of Kashmiri liberation leaders Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Burhan Wani and Ashraf Sehrai and that of Khalistan movement leader Amritpal Singh, situation of human rights violations could not be so horrible. Certainly in the larger interest of the world, the UNO type organizations need review their role with special concentration on the issues faced by the Muslims all over the world.