New Delhi: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has found a most unlikely ally in its campaign against cow slaughter - Fazal-ur Rahman, chief of Pakistani radical outfit Jamiat-Ulema-Islam.

At a meeting with top VHP brass in the capital on July 22, Rahman not only supported a ban on cow slaughter but also agreed to endorse such a move in writing, sources claimed.

During their 50-minute long meeting at a five-star hotel in the heart of the capital, Imtiaz Alam, Lahore- based journalist of Pakistani daily "The News", who assisted Rahman, tried to raise the issue of Babri Masjid demolition, but another delegation member interrupted saying it was "India's internal matter", the sources said.

Rahman, who is currently on a goodwill mission to India, is also believed to have asked the VHP leaders why they were bent upon demolishing mosques to which the Sangh outfit's senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore retorted saying, "Why the Muslims were silent when thousands of temples were pulled down and mosques built over them."

Rahman did not respond when Kishore suggested that Ulemas and Hindu leaders from both India and Pakistan sit across the table and delete "objectionable portions" from their respective religious texts.

Both VHP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had been demanding removal of three words "kafir" (idolator), "kufr" (the philosophy behind it) and "jihad" (holy war) from the Holy Koran, saying it would establish permanent peace between the two communities.

When the Pakistani Opposition leader pointed out that there were very few instances of Hindu-Muslim riots in his country, the VHP leaders asked him, "How many Hindus are left there now?"

Rahman invited the VHP leaders to be his guest in Pakistan.

VHP sources said they did not expect the meeting to make any difference except making news headlines "with a difference".

PTI