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.