9/11 Koran burning: Pastor Terry Jones gives imam two-hour deadline
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 10, 2010, 10:05:49 PM9/10/10
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Perilous Times
9/11 Koran burning: Pastor Terry Jones gives imam two-hour deadline
Terry Jones, a Florida pastor who has caused global outrage over a threat to burn the Koran, has given a New York imam a two-hour deadline to agree to hold talks on moving a planned mosque close to ground zero.
Published: 8:00PM BST 10 Sep 2010
Pastor Jones set the deadline as part of his on-again, off-again threat to burn 200 Korans on Saturday's anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Without saying what the ultimatum was or whether his Florida church would go ahead with the burning, the pastor and a fellow evangelical leader K.A Paul gave imam Feisal Abdul Rauf two hours to contact them.
Earlier Barack Obama called on Americans to observe religious tolerance and make sure "we don't start turning on each other".
Speaking at a White House press conference, Mr Obama said: "We have to make sure that we don't start turning on each other.
"And I will do everything that I can as long as I'm President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God and we may call that god different names, but we remain one nation."
Global protests at the threatened book burning have already claimed their first victim after a man was shot dead by German troops in Afghanistan.
Protesters demonstrated against the plans by attacking a Nato base in the north of Afghanistan.
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by officials in the Badakhshan province, poured into the streets of Faizabad on Friday morning after special Eid prayers to mark the end of Muslim Ramadan.
The protests quickly turned violent and a man was shot when German troops inside the Nato base opened fire after they were attacked by a mob of stone throwing demonstrators.
"They numbered in their thousands, it is a big crowd," said Sayed Hassan Jafary, a police chief in Faizabad.
"People almost from all city mosques gathered."
Mr Jafary said that the crowd chanted "death to America" and threw rocks at the German-run military base in the city.
The protesters demanded the Afghan authorities give them an American flag "so they can burn it and end the demonstrations". "But we don't have an American flag," said Mr Jafary.
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said that officials were investigating the shooting in Faizabad, the capital of the Badakhshan province.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, had earlier added his voice to those of other leaders from other Islamic countries who have said that the Florida Koran burning would be an attack on all Muslims.
"The Koran is in the hearts and minds of all Muslims. The affront against the holy book is a humiliation to the people. We are hopeful that he gives up this affront and should not even think about it."
Brigadier General Hans-Werner Fritz, the commander of German troops in Afghanistan, had warned on Thursday that the book burning "would provide a trigger for violence towards all ISAF troops, including the Germans in northern Afghanistan."
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, phoned Pastor Jones on Thursday night and asked him to reconsider his plans to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, because it would have endanger the lives of American and Nato troops.
The pastor later said he would cancel the burning claiming he had been given reassurances that the mosque would be moved, a claim denied by Imam Rauf.
Hundreds of protesters burning American flags continued to hold rallies in the central Pakistani city of Multan on Friday.
About 600 demonstrators - including clerics, political party workers and activists - held four protests in various parts of the city of nearly four million people.
The protesters carried placards reading "Death to America" and "We will lay down our lives and will not allow desecration of the Holy Koran".
"Muslims believe in the sanctity of all holy books and they would not let anyone stage this drama to desecrate the Holy Koran," Hidayatullah Pasroori, a Muslim cleric told protesters.
"We have heard that they have postponed the plans to burn the Holy Koran, but it is not enough. We will continue to raise our voice, so that it never happens again."
President Obama had earlier warned that the plans served as a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda", and were "completely contrary to our values". Burning the Koran could provoke a wave of terrorist attacks on the West.
In a televised interview, Mr Obama said: "This could increase the recruitment of individuals who'd be willing to blow themselves up in American cities, or European cities. You know, you could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda. As a very practical matter, as commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan."
World leaders had encouraged Mr Obama to intervene. Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, condemned the plan as "despicable".
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, said it would damage attempts to reconcile Muslims and the West.
9/11 Koran burning: Pastor Terry Jones gives imam two-hour deadline
Terry Jones, a Florida pastor who has caused global outrage over a threat to burn the Koran, has given a New York imam a two-hour deadline to agree to hold talks on moving a planned mosque close to ground zero.
Published: 8:00PM BST 10 Sep 2010
Pastor Jones set the deadline as part of his on-again, off-again threat to burn 200 Korans on Saturday's anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Without saying what the ultimatum was or whether his Florida church would go ahead with the burning, the pastor and a fellow evangelical leader K.A Paul gave imam Feisal Abdul Rauf two hours to contact them.
Earlier Barack Obama called on Americans to observe religious tolerance and make sure "we don't start turning on each other".
Speaking at a White House press conference, Mr Obama said: "We have to make sure that we don't start turning on each other.
"And I will do everything that I can as long as I'm President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God and we may call that god different names, but we remain one nation."
Global protests at the threatened book burning have already claimed their first victim after a man was shot dead by German troops in Afghanistan.
Protesters demonstrated against the plans by attacking a Nato base in the north of Afghanistan.
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by officials in the Badakhshan province, poured into the streets of Faizabad on Friday morning after special Eid prayers to mark the end of Muslim Ramadan.
The protests quickly turned violent and a man was shot when German troops inside the Nato base opened fire after they were attacked by a mob of stone throwing demonstrators.
"They numbered in their thousands, it is a big crowd," said Sayed Hassan Jafary, a police chief in Faizabad.
"People almost from all city mosques gathered."
Mr Jafary said that the crowd chanted "death to America" and threw rocks at the German-run military base in the city.
The protesters demanded the Afghan authorities give them an American flag "so they can burn it and end the demonstrations". "But we don't have an American flag," said Mr Jafary.
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said that officials were investigating the shooting in Faizabad, the capital of the Badakhshan province.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, had earlier added his voice to those of other leaders from other Islamic countries who have said that the Florida Koran burning would be an attack on all Muslims.
"The Koran is in the hearts and minds of all Muslims. The affront against the holy book is a humiliation to the people. We are hopeful that he gives up this affront and should not even think about it."
Brigadier General Hans-Werner Fritz, the commander of German troops in Afghanistan, had warned on Thursday that the book burning "would provide a trigger for violence towards all ISAF troops, including the Germans in northern Afghanistan."
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, phoned Pastor Jones on Thursday night and asked him to reconsider his plans to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, because it would have endanger the lives of American and Nato troops.
The pastor later said he would cancel the burning claiming he had been given reassurances that the mosque would be moved, a claim denied by Imam Rauf.
Hundreds of protesters burning American flags continued to hold rallies in the central Pakistani city of Multan on Friday.
About 600 demonstrators - including clerics, political party workers and activists - held four protests in various parts of the city of nearly four million people.
The protesters carried placards reading "Death to America" and "We will lay down our lives and will not allow desecration of the Holy Koran".
"Muslims believe in the sanctity of all holy books and they would not let anyone stage this drama to desecrate the Holy Koran," Hidayatullah Pasroori, a Muslim cleric told protesters.
"We have heard that they have postponed the plans to burn the Holy Koran, but it is not enough. We will continue to raise our voice, so that it never happens again."
President Obama had earlier warned that the plans served as a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda", and were "completely contrary to our values". Burning the Koran could provoke a wave of terrorist attacks on the West.
In a televised interview, Mr Obama said: "This could increase the recruitment of individuals who'd be willing to blow themselves up in American cities, or European cities. You know, you could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda. As a very practical matter, as commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan."
World leaders had encouraged Mr Obama to intervene. Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, condemned the plan as "despicable".
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, said it would damage attempts to reconcile Muslims and the West.
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