KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States on Saturday to prosecute and punish anyone found guilt of desecrating the Koran as anti-U.S. protests flared for a fifth day.
Sixteen Afghans have been killed and more than 100 hurt since Wednesday in the worst anti-U.S. protests across Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network.
Newsweek magazine said in its May 9 edition investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet."
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
"If proven that this happened, then we will strongly ask the American government to put on trial and punish whoever is the culprit," Karzai told a news conference. Such sacrilege was unacceptable to every Muslim.
The United States has tried to calm global Muslim outrage over the incident, saying disrespect for the Koran was abhorrent and would not be tolerated, and military authorities were investigating the allegation.
International Muslim groups in Saudi Arabia also called on the United States to investigate and punish those responsible.
The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference said the report had enraged hundreds of millions of Muslims and would "provide fanatics and extremists with excuses to ... justify their acts of violence and terrorism."
SYDNEY: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri yesterday said that while his country had done much to smash the Al Qaeda network and destroy other militant groups, an end to the war against terror was not in sight.
Pakistan, which borders war-ravaged Afghanistan and is believed to be home to Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, has been an ally of the United States in efforts to end terrorism since shortly after the September 11 attacks.
"For Pakistan, the first and foremost challenge is the threat of terrorism and its role as a frontline state in the war against terrorism," the minister said during a speech to a foreign policy think-tank in Sydney.
"Nobody knows where the war against terrorism will take us and therefore how it will end."
On Thursday, Kasuri said a top Al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan will not be handed over to the United States at present, while leaving open the possibility of a later transfer.
Pakistan this month arrested the alleged Al Qaeda number three Abu Faraj al-Libbi.
He is the alleged mastermind of two attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life in December 2003, and a bid to assassinate Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before he assumed office last year.
Asked at a press conference in Canberra if Al-Libbi would be handed over to the US, Kasuri said Pakistan had "a very strong vested interest" given the attempts on the president's life.
"But we've had a track record, Pakistan, of sharing intelligence with all our friends, and we have very strong links with United States," he said.
"So at the moment he's in the custody of the Pakistan government and until all issues are cleared, there's no question he's being handed over to anybody else," Kasuri added.
"But of course intelligence sharing, and after we have done with the intelligence I think this is for the Ministry of Interior, not for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to decide when and if he will be handed over to any other country."
While Pakistani authorities had apprehended and deported almost 600 suspected Al Qaeda operatives and affiliates, the Western world also needed to look to troublespots around the world to kill breeding grounds for terror and counter sentiment that Muslims received a raw deal in the current world order.
"We know very well that there is the feeling in the Islamic world that there is selectivity in the application of UN Security Council resolutions," he said.
Kasuri said Australia had faced indignation from the Muslim world when it led an intervention force in 1999 into East Timor, which had previously been controlled by the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia.
"Look at Indonesia, East Timor... I'm not going into the merits of it, but all over the Islamic world they said 'Oh here's a Christian minority, they want their rights, they are being given (them) by the UN'."
Kasuri reiterated the stance of President Pervez Musharraf, who has called on Muslim countries to conduct reforms to reduce the threat of terror and on the West to help resolve disputes justly so that terrorists are denied a breeding ground.
Kasuri, the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit since 1959, said ties between the nations were strong and Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Prime Minister John Howard would visit his country this year.
Downer on Thursday announced the two nations would sign an agreement to improve counter-terrorist co-operation when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visits next month.
"There are no irritants, as the diplomats like to say, within our relationship," Kasuri said.
"Pakistan and Australia both follow cricket very keenly," he added.
Australia has also been a staunch US ally and is deploying troops in Iraq.
Kasuri said while Iraq had been a divisive war around the world, there needed to be an emphasis on inclusive government in the country to stem the violence. - AFP