UN mission demands punishment for Qur’an burners

Thu Mar 1, 2012 5:54PM GMT



The United Nations has joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai in calling for disciplinary action against those who burned copies of the Holy Qur’an at a US military base in Afghanistan.


“After the first step of a profound apology, there must be a second step ... of disciplinary action,” Jan Kubis, special representative for the UN secretary-general in Afghanistan, told a news conference in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday.

“Only after this, after such a disciplinary action, can the international forces say 'yes, we're sincere in our apology',” Kubis added.

The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan also lamented the sacrilege of Holy Qur’an at the US military’s Bagram Airbase, located 11 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the city of Charikar in Afghanistan’s northern province of Parwan.

“We were very hurt that the international military allowed the desecration of the Qur’an. We rejected and condemned this act, it doesn't matter that it was a mistake,” Kubis commented.

The call from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan for action comes after president demanded on February 24 that Qur’an burners -- whom he said were American soldiers -- be put on public trial and punished.

More than 30 people have been killed in anti-US demonstrations across Afghanistan since they began on February 21.

The desecration of the Holy Qur’an underscores the insensitivity of the US-led forces about the cultural and religious values and rituals of Afghanistan, more than 10 years after they invaded the Asian nation to remove the Taliban from power.

PressTV