site.btaGrand Mufti's Office Condemns Desecration of Muslim Gravestones in Dobrich

105 POLITICS - GRAND MUFTI'S OFFICE - DECLARATION

Grand Mufti's Office Condemns
Desecration of Muslim
Gravestones in Dobrich


Sofia, September 10 (BTA) - The Grand Mufti's Office of the Muslim Denomination in Bulgaria has issued a declaration strongly condemning the desecration of over 40 Muslim gravestones in Dobrich (Northeastern Bulgaria), the Office said in a press release on Monday.

"Government institutions must take adequate and immediate action for the detention and punishment of the perpetrators of this act of vandalism," the document says.

The gravestones were vandalized on September 6, when Bulgaria celebrated Unification Day. "We need to give serious consideration to the profound meaning of the inscription above the main entrance to the National Assembly, 'United We Stand Strong,' by which we presented ourselves to the world during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union," the Grand Mufti's Office notes. It argues that "Islamophobia has become a fad nowadays and, regrettably, even the final resting places of the deceased are encroached."

"Several Religious Denominations Bills were laid before the National Assembly during the last two years but, regrettably, not a single one of them is constructive and caters to the needs of believers," the Grand Mufti's Office declared. It sees the bills as "restrictive, seeking to derive political dividends and to strike a pseudo-patriotic chord". LI/LG
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