Pakistan's president has called the proposal to burn the Koran "despicable," while Pakistan's ambassador to the United States has called on conservative radio host Glenn Beck to condemn the burning as a signal of religious tolerance.
President Asif Ali Zardari said "anyone who even thought of such a despicable act must be suffering from a diseased mind and a sickly soul," according to a statement released today and quoted by Agence France-Presse.
"It will inflame sentiments among Muslims throughout the world and cause irreparable damage to interfaith harmony and also to world peace. ... The President called for doing all that it takes to stop such a senseless and outrageous act," the statement said.
Pakistan Ambassador Husain Haqqani on Wednesday told the Associated Press that "the United States should live up to its high ideals and all these people who are against religious extremism and intolerance in the Muslim world should also speak up against meaningless gestures such as burning the Quran," said Haqqani.
"I think it would help if Mr. Glenn Beck came out against it, and said that people of faith do not burn the books of people of other faith," Husain Haqqani told AP. The radio host and TV personality has said that burning the Koran is like burning the flag or the Bible.
About 142 million Pakistanis, or 95 percent of the population, practice Islam, according to the CIA World Factbook.
