'Quran burning not cancelled, only suspended'

Gainesville (Florida), Sep 10: Just as the world heaved a sigh of relief over Terry Jones' decision to cancel the controversial Quran burning, the Florida pastor is now reportedly reconsidering it.

Bowing to pressure from the US officials including the President, Barack Obama, the Reverend announced to the media on Thursday, Sep 9 that his church will not hold the holy book burning, planned to pay tribute to the 9/11 victims.

Jones' Dove Outreach World Center in Gainesville had planned on observing the ninth anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001 terror strike by burning Qurans, the holy book of Muslims.

The pastor, who had earlier dismissed several national and international pleas from political and religious leaders, was persuaded by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to drop his plans.

Gates called the pastor to make a direct appeal telling him that burning Quran will not only hurt the sentiments of the Muslims but also endanger US troops abroad.

However, the calm did not last long as Jones has threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

He claimed that a Muslim leader had delivered a false promise to move a proposed Islamic center and mosque away from New York's ground zero to persuade him to halt the Quran burning plans.

An angry Jones told the media outside his church that he agreed to back out after Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, promised that the controversial Ground Zero mosque would be moved away.

The Muslim leader, on the other hand, said that the only promise he made was the plans of him and Jones traveling to New York on Saturday, Sep 11 to meet with the imam overseeing plans to build a mosque near ground zero.

Musri "clearly, clearly lied to us," Jones said.

"Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision. "So as of right now, we are not canceling the event, but we are suspending it," Jones added.

OneIndia News