Pak NGO condemns pastor’s Quran burning proposal, urges Obama to chip in

LAHORE - A non-government organisation (NGO) has expressed deep concern over the proposal of burning the religious book of Muslims- the holy Quran- by radical Florida pastor Terry Jones, and has urged US President Barack Obama to visit the pastor.

“The pastor’s outrageous plan can trigger a violent backlash in Muslims countries, especially, in Pakistan, the frontline partners of the US in the war against terrorism,” the Daily Times quoted the Initiative for Peace and Freedom (IPF), an NGO, as saying in a press statement.

In the press statement, the NGO urged Obama to visit the radical pastor to “help tone down the angry pastor (and) also improve the image of America and its president in front of the world in creating peace and interfaith harmony.”

While solution to the problem of extremism lay in interfaith harmony, peace, tolerance and dialogue, “such acts of hurting other regions would create further anarchy in the world by pushing clash of religions on the forefront,” the statement noted.

The NGO pointed out that “the angry pastor should also think that his style of protesting will add fuel to the fire,” while advising religious personalities of different religions, who were in confrontation with each other, to “sit together and find positive means to resolve their differences.”

It also appealed the Muslims across the world to “show restrain and patience” by not listening to extremist organisations who were trying to trigger reactions “by playing with the emotions of the Muslims.”

“Those who are provoking public sentiments over the issue against Christianity, the US and the West should be ignored. States and religions are not responsible for individual acts. Though this is highly condemnable, such individual acts of intolerance also happen in Muslim societies,” the IPF said, adding that in such cases, the culprits should be dealt in accordance to the law.

The FBI had expressed concerns that Islamic extremists might attack and “attempt to harm” the people at the ‘International Burn a Koran Day’ event, which was scheduled for today but was later put “on hold” by the American pastor.

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