Asia-Pacific

Religious tension marks 9/11 anniversary

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-09-11 16:25

WASHINGTON - Religious tensions are overshadowing the anniversay of the September 11 attacks on the United States where President Barack Obama urged a Christian preacher to abandon a plan to burn copies of the Koran.

A Pakistani man holds a toy gun as others tear apart a US flag during a protest in Multan in Punjab province September 10, 2010, against plans by Pastor Terry Jones, an obscure US Protestant church leader, to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Jones who said he had cancelled a plan to burn copies of the Koran at his Florida church said later on Thursday he was suspending his decision while he had a "rethink". Jones had initially called off plans to burn Korans after drawing international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings. [Agencies]

A day ahead of Saturday's ninth anniversary, a report warned that the United States faced a growing threat from home-grown insurgents and an "Americanization" of the al Qaeda leadership.

On Friday, Obama appealed to Americans to respect the "inalienable" right of religious freedom and said he hoped the preacher would abandon his plan to burn the Muslim holy book, saying it could deeply hurt the United States abroad.

News of the plan has outraged Muslims around the world and triggered violent protests in Afghanistan in which one protester was shot dead.

"This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters ... you don't play games with that," Obama told a Washington news conference in which he included an appeal for religious tolerance.

Pastor Terry Jones, of the obscure Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has backed off a threat to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died.

Jones arrived late on Friday in New York, where he was scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" show on Saturday morning.

He had said he would call off the Koran burning if he could meet with Muslim leaders seeking to build an Islamic centre and mosque near the Manhattan site of the September 11 attacks with the aim of getting it relocated.

While the bewhiskered fundamentalist preacher kept people guessing about his precise intentions, an evangelist acting as a spokesman, K.A. Paul, said he could "guarantee" Jones would not go ahead with the event.

Referring to "the individual down in Florida," Obama noted the pastor's Koran-burning plan had already caused anti-American riots in Afghanistan, where US troops are in a gruelling war against Muslim Taliban militants.

Thousands of people took to the streets across Afghanistan on Friday, some threatening to attack US bases. One protester was shot dead and several were wounded outside a German-run NATO base in northeast Afghanistan. Demonstrations later spread to the capital, Kabul, and at least four other provinces.

Dove World Outreach Center church pastor Terry Jones (L) listens to Dr. K. A. Paul speak with the media during a news conference in Gainesville, Florida September 10, 2010. Jones said on Friday he does not plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks and hopes a Muslim imam will organize a meeting with those planning an Islamic center near the site of the New York attacks. [Agencies]