Deadline passes with no offer of meeting for Koran-burning pastor

The pastor who planned an “International Burn-a-Koran Day” is still hopeful of meeting the imam overseeing plans for a controversial Islamic centre in New York for talks.

Pastor Terry Jones had planned to fly to New York tonight and hoped to meet Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf tomorrow – on the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US – to talk about unhappiness about the centre being sited close to Ground Zero.

He was forced to reconsider when Imam Rauf said he had no plans to meet the pastor although he was open to seeing anyone “seriously committed to pursuing peace”.

After the deadline passed, Pastor Jones said he had not heard from Imam Rauf since the challenge was issued but was still “very hopeful” a meeting would take place.

“As of this time we have not heard from the imam but we are still very, very hopeful that we will meet with him and we are still very convinced, through the different channels that we have which we at this time cannot mention, that this meeting will take place tomorrow.”

Mr Jones has earlier said he had “a challenge to give to the imam in New York”.

Standing outside his church, the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, he then handed over to K A Paul, a controversial Christian preacher who has been praying with the pastor.

Mr Paul said the message to Imam Rauf was “crystal clear”.

“There is a confusion going on. We want to clear that confusion,” he said.

Mr Paul gave out his own telephone number and that of another pastor and urged Imam Rauf to get in touch, either directly or through the media to discuss whether he was prepared to meet Mr Jones. He was given a two hour deadline.

Mr Paul said it was legally acceptable for the Islamic centre to be built near the Ground Zero site of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 2001 attacks but not morally acceptable.

“Is it the right thing to burn the Koran? Legally can the pastor burn the Koran tomorrow?” he then asked.

“Legally it’s right but is it the right thing to do? No.”

His remarks suggested the pastor was standing by his earlier decision to cancel the bonfire planned for tomorrow.

Mr Jones initially called off the protest last night, saying he had been promised the centre’s location would be changed, but then admitted he was reconsidering after it emerged no such commitment had been made by the imam.

He today told CBS breakfast television programme The Early Show that the stunt had been cancelled and he would fly to New York tonight with the hope of meeting the imam.

The world will tomorrow remember the thousands of people killed and injured when Muslim extremists hijacked four planes and flew two into the World Trade Centre and a third into the Pentagon.

The fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew tried to regain control of the aircraft.

The British victims of the atrocity will be remembered in Grosvenor Square, London, tomorrow, where floral tributes will be laid on behalf of the UK and US governments.

Memorial services will take place at the crash sites tomorrow and the remembrance event at Ground Zero will be followed by rallies for and against the Islamic centre plans.

After angry protests against the planned Koran burning, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Parker, deputy commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan, told Sky News: “These sorts of incidents outside Afghanistan are unhelpful to us.”

Thousands of Muslims gathered at one of western Europe’s largest mosques today to condemn the pastor.

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, world head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, addressed millions of people from a live telecast from the Baitul Futuh Mosque, in Morden, south west London.

He said Mr Jones’s plans had spread “hatred” around the world.

“Religious extremism, be it Christian extremism, Muslim extremism, or any other kind is never a true reflection of the religion,” he said.

Foreign Secretary William Hague was among those who condemned Mr Jones’s plans to burn copies of the Koran as “selfish and provocative in the extreme”.

The White House, the Vatican, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus and Tony Blair all urged Mr Jones to call off his protest.

Shadow foreign secretary David Miliband said the “unacceptable” stunt would have been “dangerous, destructive and fundamentally wrong”.

Mr Jones said it was planned to “send a message to radical Islam that we will not tolerate their behaviour”.

US President Barack Obama today appealed for religious tolerance, reminding Americans that the “overwhelming majority” of Muslims around the world are peace-loving people.

He earlier described the pastor’s plans as a “recruitment bonanza for al Qaida”.