Obama calls on pastor not to burn Koran

US President Barack Obama today urged a Florida pastor to “listen to those better angels” and call off his plan to engage in a Koran-burning protest this weekend.

Obama called the plan a “stunt” and said he hoped the Rev Terry Jones listened to the pleas of people who have asked him to call it off.

He said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that what Jones proposed “is completely contrary to our values as Americans. This country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance”.

Obama declared: “This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”

“And as a very practical matter, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,” the president added.

He said: “Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

The president also said Jones’ plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals “to blow themselves up” to kill others.

“I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he’s engaging in,” the president said.

The President's plea came as anger was growing in the Muslim world over the plan.

About 200 lawyers and protesters members marched and burned a US flag in the central Pakistani city of Multan, demanding that Washington halt the burning of the Muslim holy book.

“If Koran 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 foreign ministries of Pakistan and the Gulf nation of Bahrain issued some of the first official denunciations in the Muslim world, with Bahrain calling it a “shameful act which is incompatible with the principles of tolerance and coexistence”. Bahrain is home to the US Fifth Fleet.

The president of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has also sent a letter to President Obama asking him to stop the bonfire.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said images of the Koran in flames could “threaten world peace,” Heru Lelono, a special adviser to the president, told reporters.

However, Pastor Jones told a press conference last night that he has received encouragement for his protest, with supporters posting copies of the Koran to his Gainesville church of about 50 followers.

He plans to burn the books in a bonfire on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11.

“As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing,” said Jones.