Khalid Tanveer, Associated Press, Multan, Pakistan | Thu, 09/09/2010 4:21 PM
A small American church's plan to burn copies of the Quran
is stirring outrage in Muslim nations, with lawyers protesting in Pakistan and
Bahrain's government calling the burning a shameful attack on interfaith
relations.
About 200 lawyers and civil society members marched and
burned a U.S. flag in the central Pakistani city of Multan, demanding that
Washington halt the burning of the Muslim holy book.
"If Quran is burned, it would be beginning of
destruction of America," read one English-language banner held up by the
protesters, who chanted "Down with America!"
The Gainesville, Florida, fire department has denied Jones a
required burn permit, but he said lawyers have told him he has the right to
burn the Qurans, with or without the city's permission. The U.S. Supreme Court
has made clear that speech deemed offensive to many people, even the majority
of people, cannot be suppressed by the government unless it is clearly directed
to intimidate or amounts to an incitement to violence, legal experts say.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has denounced
the planned burning and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in
Afghanistan, has said it could lead to attacks on international troops there.
"This is a plan by Zionists to put te entire world into
trouble, so it should be foiled," Tariq Naeemullah, the head of the Joint
Civic Front, a coalition of non-governmental organizations in Multan.
The foreign ministries of Pakistan and the Gulf nation of
Bahrain issued some of the first official denunciations in the Muslim world,
with Bhrain calling it a "shameful act which is incompatible with the
principles of tolerance and coexistence." Bahrain is home to the U.S.
Fifth Fleet.
The president of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
nation, has also sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to stop the
bonfire.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said images of the Quran
in flames could "threaten world peace," Heru Lelono, a special
adviser to the president, told reporters Thursday.
India's Home Ministry has asked the country's media to
"exercise restraint" in reporting on the planned burning.
