Asia hopes for peace, fears violence during fasting month

Asia hopes for peace, fears violence during fasting month

Danny Kemp, Agence France-Presse/Islamabad

Hundreds of millions of Muslims across Asia mark the first day of Ramadhan this week, a month of fasting and spiritual purity but also of heightened security and fears of terror attacks.

Devoutly Islamic Afghanistan declared the start of Ramadhan on Tuesday after religious scholars sighted the first sliver of the new moon, along with the Muslim minority in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, starts the holy month on Wednesday along with Malaysia and Muslims in Thailand, and Bangladesh and Indian Muslims were likely to follow suit.

Pakistan is set to usher in Ramadhan on Thursday.

For many Muslims the month will bring a peaceful interlude of religious introspection -- yet the continuing threat posed by Islamic extremists casts a pall over parts of South and Southeast Asia.

In Afghanistan, which is slowly clawing its way back from two decades of war, some said the Ramadhan ban on eating, smoking and drinking during daylight hours would make little difference to an already destitute population.

"It's full-time Ramadhan here," said Kabul businessman Bahram Sarwary, 33. "In Afghanistan most of the people don't have food to eat, there is no drinking water."

Taliban militants also continue to wage an insurgency nearly four years after their fundamentalist Islamic regime was ousted, and the U.S. has warned attacks will continue through Ramadhan.

However shopkeeper and former lawyer Rohullah Stankzai said the holy month was a time to appreciate the progress the country had made since last year.

"This year it's good because we've the parliament," he said, referring to historic parliamentary elections on which passed off peacefully on Sept. 18.

Prayer calls early on Tuesday in the mostly Catholic Philippines ushered in Ramadhan for the minority of four million Muslims in the south of the country.

Armed police patrolled the southern city of Zamboanga to prevent attacks by the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, which is linked to the Jamaah Islamiyah group behind weekend bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.

However the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has fought for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines since 1978, said it would help secure the peace during Ramadhan.

In mainly Buddhist Thailand, the government said state-owned television would broadcast nightly prayers from Saudi Arabia to villages in the country's restive, Muslim-dominated south.

The move is aimed at preventing tensions in the region -- home to most of Thailand's Muslims -- where an insurgency has left more than 960 dead since January 2004.

"We are being careful," during Ramadhan, Thai Defense Minister Thammarak Issarangkura Na Ayutthayahe said this week.

Indonesia, where more than 90 percent of the 220 million population are Muslims, was starting Ramadhan on Wednesday on a downbeat note after the Bali attacks.

The start of the holy month was also preceded by an average 126 percent hike in fuel prices and a resulting rise in other commodities, goods and services.

Security and prices were also the main concerns in Pakistan, an Islamic republic of 150 million people.

Extra police have been deployed at all mosques and security has been tightened across Pakistan, while special committees have been set up to control the prices of food items during Ramadhan, officials said.

Bangladesh, the third most populated Muslim majority nation, was hit by three bombs at courthouses on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks to hit the country.

But restaurants were getting ready for a busy month making the fast-breaking meal known as Iftar.

"Iftar provides fraternity and equality," said housewife Mousimu Khanom, 35, eating at the popular food stalls in the old quarter of the capital Dhaka.

There were also hopes for peace in the Indian sector of Kashmir, where steadily improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have led to a relative lull in the 16-year insurgency by Islamic guerrillas.