Malaysia Deplores Burning of Holy Quran By U.S. Military

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Friday deplored the burning of copies of the Holy Quran by the United States military personnel in Bagram, Afghanistan, recently. Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said the irresponsible and insensitive act had unnecessarily triggered a wave of outrage in Afghanistan, as well as in other parts of the world, including Malaysia. "Malaysia is truly saddened that several lives were lost as a consequence of the tragedy, and Malaysia is dismayed that such a despicable act had taken place at a time when efforts are underway to restore peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region. "This irresponsible act had only hampered the efforts by the international community to restore peace and stability in Afghanistan," he said in a statement. He said Malaysia hopes that the concerned authorities will take swift and appropriate action against the perpetrators. "Malaysia welcomes the assurances by the United States government, as well as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that the matter will be thoroughly investigated and appropriate steps will be taken to avoid any recurrence of the incident. "Malaysia would like to call on all parties who are understandably outraged by the incident to refrain from any form of violence while such an act of indifference and irresponsible behaviour by the American personnel involved cannot be tolerated," he said. -- BERNAMA