Search for missing Aceh activist begins<\/p>\n
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Security authorities began searching on
\nTuesday for the chairman of the New York-based nongovernmental
\norganization International Forum for Aceh (IFA), Jafar Sidik
\nHamzah.<\/p>\n
He was reported missing in the North Sumatra capital Medan on
\nSaturday and it is feared he has been abducted.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutanto said in Medan on
\nTuesday that his personnel had been assigned to distribute copies
\nof Jafar's photo and began collecting leads on his whereabouts.<\/p>\n
\"Previous information has revealed that Jafar was on a visit
\nto a palm-oil plantation belonging to PT Parasawita on Jl. Ahmad
\nYani in Medan just before he disappeared,\" Sutanto said as quoted
\nby Antara.<\/p>\n
The company is said to be owned by a wealthy Acehnese.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has denied any involvement in
\nthe case.<\/p>\n
\"We have never committed any abductions, eliminations or any
\nkind of military intelligence operations to 'remove' certain
\npeople, including the missing IFA activist,\" said Maj. Gen.
\nI Gede Purnawa, chief of the Bukit Barisan Military Command
\noverseeing Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Riau.<\/p>\n
\"We are fully committed to the government's political
\ndecisions on Aceh and I guarantee that none of my men are
\ninvolved in disrupting the humanitarian pause in Aceh,\" Purnawa
\nsaid in Medan on Tuesday, referring to the recent truce signed
\nbetween the government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist
\nleaders.<\/p>\n
In Banda Aceh, Alamsyah Hamdani, a lawyer and a close
\nassociate of Jafar, said in a statement on Tuesday that the
\nUnited States Consulate in Medan as well as the National
\nCommission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in Jakarta had been told
\nof Jafar's disappearance.<\/p>\n
\"We strongly fear that he has been kidnapped,\" Alamsyah said.<\/p>\n
Jafar's relatives said they last heard from him on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"He usually calls every two hours but we haven't heard from
\nhim since (Saturday). We're really worried as he always used to
\ntell us where he was,\" one of Jafar's relatives, who asked for
\nanonymity, said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Jafar was in Banda Aceh on July 22 to attend a human rights
\nseminar and had visited relatives in Aceh and Medan before his
\ndisappearance.<\/p>\n
He reportedly returned to Aceh about three weeks ago to set up
\nan office of the Support Committee for Human Rights for Aceh
\n(SCHRA).<\/p>\n
Chief of Aceh's Forum Peduli HAM (Aceh's Human Rights Concern
\nForum) Syaifuddin Bantasyam expressed concern over the incident
\non Tuesday and hoped for Jafar's safe return.<\/p>\n
\"Personally, I think Medan is no longer a safe city for
\nactivists or outspoken figures, especially those defending the
\nrights of Acehnese,\" Syaifuddin said.<\/p>\n
Syaifuddin said that several fatal incidents had taken place
\nin Medan this year, such as the unsolved murder of Tengku
\nNashiruddin Daud, who was a House of Representatives (DPR) member
\nand a member of a special committee for Aceh, in late January.<\/p>\n
GAM spokesman Ismail Syahputra also reportedly went missing in
\nMedan a couple of months ago and has not been seen since.<\/p>\n
Jafar, 36, is a native of Lhokseumawe in North Aceh, and a
\nnaturalized American citizen. He has been a vocal campaigner
\nagainst the human rights abuses committed by the military during
\nits 10 years of military operations in Aceh.<\/p>\n
The government scrapped its military operations in Aceh in
\n1998.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, two policemen were killed on Monday in continuing
\nviolence in Aceh.<\/p>\n
The murders came only a day after the government and GAM
\nnegotiators in Geneva said that they were \"strongly inclined\" to
\nextend the humanitarian pause in the province, which is due to
\nexpire on Sept. 2.<\/p>\n
The first victim, a member of the police elite Mobile Brigade
\nnamed Second Sgt. Jon Sanova, was shot dead by two armed men on a
\nmotorbike in Banda Masen village on Monday in Lhokseumawe, North
\nAceh Police chief Supt. Abadan Bangko said.<\/p>\n
Second Sgt. Muhammad Anan was killed after he was hit by a
\ntruck in front of the North Aceh Police station around 11 a.m. on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
The incident brought the death toll in Aceh to 44 since the
\nimplementation of the humanitarian pause on June 2. (50\/edt)<\/p>",
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