UP clueless on UK ban; cleric for US apology

There is a buzz in UK against tourists visiting religious places in the state capital but officials here haven’t heard of it. A British...

There is a buzz in UK against tourists visiting religious places in the state capital but officials here haven’t heard of it.

A British travel advisory asked its citizens to avoid religious places across Lucknow due to hostile reactions from some sections of society. At a press conference this evening, Chief Secretary V.K. Mittal said he hadn’t heard of any such ban. The tourism department is yet to react to the ban or take measures to curb the apprehensions.

Mittal said he had read about the ban in the newspapers but nobody had informed him about it. In his own backyard, however, protests struck a new pitch as a Shia cleric today demanded that US President George Bush ‘‘apologise’’ for the damage caused to sacred shrines in Iraq. Lucknow’s imambaras have already restricted Americans, Britons and Israelis from entering until coalition troops withdraw from Iraq.

Speaking to reporters, Maulana Kalbe Jawad said: ‘‘Bush should apologise for the action of coalition troops who damaged sacred shrines of Muslims in Iraq and killed hundreds of innocent Iraqis just because they were suspected to be militants.’’ The cleric also demanded that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld be tried for ‘‘war crimes’’.