GAINESVILLE, Florida (Reuters) – A Christian pastor said yesterday he was cancelling a plan to burn the Koran, which had drawn international condemnation and a warning from President Barack Obama that it could provoke al Qaeda suicide bombings.
Terry Jones, who heads the tiny Dove World Outreach Center church in the Florida university town of Gainesville, told journalists outside his church in this Florida town that he was calling off his plan.
He said at the same time that an agreement had been reached with Muslim leaders to move the location of an Islamic cultural center and mosque planned close to the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.
But sources close to New York Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said there was no agreement to move the site of the proposed Muslim cultural center.
The planned location has been opposed by many who have said it is insensitive to families of the 2001 victims of the attacks by militant Islamist group al Qaeda.
Jones said he had been promised by Muslim leaders in New York that the location would be changed.
Earlier world leaders had joined the president in denouncing Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.
Jones has said Jesus would approve of his plan for “Burn a Koran Day,” which he called a reprisal for Islamist terrorism.
Many people, both conservative and liberal, dismissed the threat as an attention-seeking stunt by the preacher. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called him a “desperate man” who would endanger the lives of American troops abroad.
“This is a recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda,” Obama said earlier in an ABC television interview.
“You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities.”
The US president, who has sought to improve relations with Muslims worldwide, spoke out in an effort to stop Jones from going ahead with his plan and head off spiralling anger among many Muslims.
Insults to Islam, no matter their size or scope, have often been met with huge protests and violence around the world. One such outburst was sparked when a Danish newspaper published a cartoon mocking the Prophet Mohammad in 2005.
The international police agency Interpol warned governments worldwide yesterday of an increased risk of terrorist attacks if the planned burning went ahead, and the US State Department issued a warning to Americans travelling overseas.
Jones’ threat has caused worldwide alarm and raised tensions over the 9/11 anniversary, which this year coincides with the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival, ending the fasting month of Ramadan.
