Koran burning plans “one hundred” percent called off

NEW YORK - Indian-American K.A. Paul, a Florida church ally and evangelical leader, has confirmed that the controversial Koran burning rally planned by Terry Jones, head of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, has been “one hundred” percent cancelled.

“I want to be clear and confirm one hundred percent that there will not be Korans burning tomorrow at 6 p.m. as was planned,” The New York Daily News quoted Paul, as saying.

Meanwhile, Terry Jones’ son Luke also confirmed that the rally has been called off.

Earlier, Reverend Jones threatened to burn copies of Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks and declared that he would carry on with his plan unless he received a call from New York imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, confirming that he would change the location of a proposed Islamic community center and mosque away from Ground Zero.

He further set a two-hour deadline for Rauf to contact him.

Rauf, however, seems to have paid no heed to his demand. Instead, the pastor has been pressurised by US diplomats to alter his plans.

President Barack Obama condemned the idea without referring to Jones saying, “With respect to the individual down in Florida, the idea that we would burn the sacred texts of somebody else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for.”

Ironically, the pastor has also been criticised by his own family members for his devastating plans.

His daughter, Emma Jones, reportedly wrote to her father warning him of the outcome.

“Papa don’t do it,” Emma e-mailed to her father.

“I think his plan is so awful, I implored him to consider the consequences, not just for him but for the whole world,” she said later. (ANI)