Police deny \"spying\" on pesantren<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
National Police Headquarters denied on Friday that police in
\nCentral and West Java provinces had sent in spies to monitor the
\nactivities of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) suspected of
\nharboring the followers of militant group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).<\/p>\n
\"This sort of thing is no longer the way we do things in the
\npolice in this democratic era,\" National Police spokesman Sr.
\nCommr. Zainuri Lubis told The Jakarta Post here.<\/p>\n
Zainuri was commenting on previous statements by Central Java
\nPolice chief Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi and West Java Police chief
\nInsp. Gen. Dadang Garnida that their officers were conducting
\n\"tight surveillance\" on a number of pesantren located in their
\njurisdictions.<\/p>\n
The police reportedly stepped up surveillance on pesantren out
\nof fears that they had been infiltrated by and become safe havens
\nfor JI followers.<\/p>\n
The surveillance was also said to be intended to detect
\npotential terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
Zainuri claimed that the phrase \"tight surveillance\", as used
\nby the two police generals, did not mean spying.<\/p>\n
Conducting tight surveillance, he said, did not mean that the
\npolice had deployed intelligence officers to scrutinize the
\nactivities of the pesantren.<\/p>\n
\"Tight surveillance does not meant spying,\" Zainuri insisted,
\nin an apparent attempt to ease fears among human rights activists
\nand Muslim leaders that the surveillance could lead to human
\nrights violations.<\/p>\n
Instead of deploying intelligence officers, the police would
\ngather information on the potential dangers of terrorism, warn
\nthe public of these and encourage the public to help the
\nauthorities in the fight against the bombers, he said.<\/p>\n
Zainuri said police were trying to increase public
\nparticipation in the antiterrorism campaign.<\/p>\n
With the possibility of further bomb outrages in the country
\nundiminished, the police realized that the best way to stop the
\nterrorists was to increase public participation in the early
\ndetection of terrorist threats.<\/p>\n
Some religious leaders have backed the police move to conduct
\nsurveillance on the pesantren, saying that this was justified as
\na preemptive measure to stop future terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
They warned, however, that the police must respect the
\nprevailing laws when conducting such surveillance operations.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-deny-spying-on-pesantren-1447893297",
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