Asian leaders call for peaceful Muslim fasting month
Asian leaders call for peaceful Muslim fasting month
HONG KONG (AFP): Asian Muslims called for unity on Thursday ahead of the fasting month of Ramadhan and an end to sectarian and separatist violence which has flared throughout the region in recent months.
In Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated country, Ramadhan began on Thursday with a call for national unity amid religious clashes and mounting calls by provinces for independence.
Indonesia, a nation of 200 million people, is battling separatist movements in Aceh and Irian Jaya provinces, and ongoing Muslim-Christian clashes in the eastern Maluku islands.
Authorities said 13,000 policemen have been deployed to secure Jakarta, while Islamic leaders and a Roman Catholic bishop appealed for restraint.
Ambon, the capital of Indonesia's eastern province of Maluku, has witnessed almost a year of bloody violence between warring Muslim and Christian residents in which 700 people have been killed.
Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina appealed for a truce. "Religious figures, informal and youth leaders, security personnel from the military and the police should make use of this time to earnestly hold negotiations and dialogs toward achieving a peaceful and secure situation," he said.
Monsignor C. Mandagie, the Roman Catholic bishop of Ambon diocese, also called on his flock to respect the holy month.
"Muslims and Christians should apologize to one another and end the prolonged conflict in an endeavor to create lasting peace in the territory," he said in a pastoral letter which will be read in all Catholic churches in the province.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was preparing to visit Ambon over the weekend but is skipping Aceh, where demands for a separate Islamic state have grown louder since East Timor voted for independence in August.
East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao on Wednesday signed a guest book at the Annur mosque in the Catholic former Portuguese territory and met a group of about 200 Muslims.
In Pakistan, where Ramadhan is expected to start with the appearance of the crescent moon on Friday, security has been stiffened to avert violence and sectarian sabotage, officials said on Thursday.
Police will guard mosques during special prayers held daily about two hours after the break of fast at sunset.
Sectarian unrest since September, blamed on militants from the extremist groups in the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects, has claimed more than 50 lives.
The new military government which seized power in October has also ordered strict implementation of laws on maintaining the "sanctity" of the holy month.
Afghanistan's ruling Taleban said they would not attack opposition forces during Ramadhan.
The Taleban control most of the country but are fighting a bitter civil war against opposition troops who hold two northeastern provinces and the Panjshir Valley, 100 kilometers north of the capital Kabul.
In religiously diverse Malaysia, an Islamic party broadened its power with a surprise state election win last month but has sparked an outcry over plans to introduce a special tax on non- Muslims.
In the northeastern states of Kelantan and Terengganu, ruled by the Parti Islam SeMalaysia, civil servants are being allowed to stop work early during Ramadhan to prepare for the evening meal.
Non-Muslim government employees can also leave early even though they, unlike Muslims, will have a lunch break.
Special prayers will be held nightly after the breaking of the fast in all 37 mosques in the national capital Kuala Lumpur.
Ramadhan begins Friday in India, a Hindu-majority country of nearly one billion people which is also home to more than 125 million Muslims, the largest religious minority.
Muslims will not eat, drink or smoke and abstain from sex between sunrise and sunset during the holy month, which is followed by the Muslim festival of Idul Fitri.
Bangladeshi President Shahabuddin Ahmed sent greetings to his counterparts throughout the Muslim world as the National Moon Sighting Committee decided to begin Ramadhan on Friday.