Bantaqiah's relatives appeal for troop withdrawal in Aceh

Bantaqiah's relatives appeal for troop withdrawal in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): Relatives of slain Islamic boarding school
teacher Tengku Bantaqiah called on the government to withdraw
troops from Aceh, saying their presence only propagated a climate
of fear and terror.

"We plead for a troop withdrawal because there have been too
many innocent casualties in Aceh," the group's leader, Tengku
Zainudin, told journalists on Thursday.

"We know that troops arrived in Aceh to quell the separatist
Free Aceh Movement (GAM), but in the end, civilians have become
the victims ... Our houses have been set on fire and people
everywhere have been getting shot," Zainudin added.

Troops allegedly shot dead Bantaqiah, his first wife, his
students and dozens of farmers in an antirebel raid in the remote
Beutong area, some 100 kilometers south of the North Aceh capital
of Lhokseumawe on July 23.

Local military officers maintain Bantaqiah and his students
were allies of the separatists and that they were killed in an
exchange of fire.

Witnesses and a government-sanctioned inquiry said, however,
that the killings were executed by army troops.

Zainudin said the Beutong area is still besieged by troops and
that people who want to return to the village would have to go
through various intimidating security checkpoints.

He also said those who wanted to return to Beutong were
sometimes accused of being GAM supporters.

"That is why people are still reluctant to return because
there is no security guarantee ... We are actually not on
anybody's side, we only want peace in Aceh," he added.

Bantaqiah's second wife, Manfarisyah said on Thursday that the
group was in Jakarta to try to meet with President Abdurrahman
Wahid to ask for better assurances for their security.

"We urge the government to guarantee our security so that we
can resume our daily activities and reopen the Islamic boarding
school," Manfarisyah said.

The trial of about 25 military personnel and civilians who
were allegedly involved in the murder is scheduled to start in
the provincial capital of Banda Aceh in early March.

Human rights activists doubted, however, that the trial would
be able to disclose the mystery behind the killings as one of the
prime suspects, Lt. Col. Sudjono, has been missing since November
last year.

Aceh has been wracked by daily clashes between troops and
rebels and supporters of the separatists. An estimated 200 people
have been killed since the start of the year.

A decade of military operations against the rebels, which
ended in 1998, and the siphoning off of the province's resources
have fueled popular resentment against Jakarta.

Women

Meanwhile in Banda Aceh, the Aceh Women's Congress Duek Pakat
Inong Aceh recommended on Thursday that the government soon forge
a government-sanctioned commission to investigate alleged rights
violations in the restive province.

About 600 Acehnese women gathered in a five-day congress which
ended late on Wednesday, demanded a similar commission which was
established for East Timor rights cases to probe rights
violations during the past decade.

The congress said that between 1989 and 1998, the military
operation to crack down on alleged separatist movements claimed
at least 1,021 lives. Another 864 people are still classified as
missing.

The women also urged warring parties involved in the prolonged
conflict to end their actions and that peace be immediately
sought to free people from fear and intimidation.

"We will soon convey this message through a delegation to meet
the central government and House of Representatives (DPR)," a
media statement from the congress said.

"Women are the vital agents of social change," the statement
said, adding that women should be given greater access in the
decision-making process that affects the province.

They lamented that what practically began as a political
conflict between the government and separatist rebels has
escalated to unnecessary acts, such as the demolition of schools.

Provincial councillor O.K. Ibrahim, chief of the council's
commission for welfare affairs, stated that at least 1,000
orphans aged between 10 and 15 years old have dropped out of
school in the past year. (50/51/edt/byg)