Moslems worldwide celebrate Idul Fitri

Moslems worldwide celebrate Idul Fitri

JAKARTA (Agencies): An Idul Fitri festive mood prevailed in
most predominantly Moslem countries and territories across the
globe, even in troubled spots like Sarajevo, Chechnya, Palestine
and Somalia, although tensions remained.

In some countries, the occasion was used by leaders to convey
political gestures for peace with their opponents. The leaders of
Egypt and Bahrain as well as Palestine leader Yasser Arafat
granted pardon to prisoners, including political prisoners.

Most Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iran
and Iraq marked Idul Fitri, the end of the holy fasting month of
Ramadhan, on Thursday. Other places celebrated the day on Friday.
Southeast Asian countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Oman, Tunisia
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chechnya celebrated it on Friday.

In Sarajevo, Moslems in Bosnia marked the day under siege for
the fourth straight year.

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Prime Minister Haris
Silajdzic and federation vice president Ejup Ganic attended
prayers for Bajram -- as Idul Fitri is known there -- at the Bey
Mosque, the largest in the capital, in the old bazaar.

"Our situation remains difficult, but thank God things are
better now than they were for the last Bajram," Mustafa Ceric,
the Bosnian Moslem religious leader told several hundred
worshipers, many of them gathered in the courtyard of the mosque
in the shadow of a war-damaged minaret.

"With God's help and that of our defenders, we have managed to
prevent our physical extermination," he said.

More than half of the capital's 350,000 inhabitants are
Moslem, though many do not observe religious practices.

Tension in the western Chechnyan city of Samashki dissipated
on Friday as most of the local people celebrated Idul Fitri.
However a truce offer by Russian commanders was greeted with
skepticism.

In Kabul, embattled residents took advantage of a rare lull in
fighting to mark Idul Fitri.

On Wednesday, the last day of the fasting month of Ramadhan,
jostling shoppers could hardly move in the Pul Bagha-i-Omoumi
market, jammed solid with traders bellowing praise of their wares
to people buying treats for the feast.

A week ago, the same street was nearly lifeless. The bazaar
was deserted by all but the hardiest traders two years ago when
rockets began dropping on the area.

In Gaza, nearly one million Palestinians celebrated the
holiday free of Israeli occupation for the first time, but they
found find times harder than ever.

Shops and open-air markets in Gaza City teem with parents out
to make their children happy for the feast. Stores are full of
clothes, cheap plastic toys and sweets. But few can afford them.

In Bahrain, the end of Ramadhan saw the resumption of violent
protests for political reforms.

Anti-riot police on Friday fired live and rubber bullets as
well as tear gas on the second consecutive day of clashes in
Shiite Moslem areas of Bahrain.

Protesters demanding political reform and the release of
prisoners set up barricades and stoned security forces in
villages on the island of Sitra, the Islamic Front for the
Liberation of Bahrain said.

The first demonstrations in the Sunni-led Gulf Arab
archipelago since Jan. 27 erupted on Thursday during celebrations
to end the Moslem fasting month of Ramadhan.

The incident came after the Emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Issa Ben
Salman al-Khalifa, in an Idul Fitri gesture, pardoned 100 people
implicated in earlier clashes.

World peace

In Dhaka, mass Idul Fitri prayers were used to call for an end
to the political bickering between the government and the
opposition and for world peace and unity in the Islamic world.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia called for creating a "stable
democratic and developed society in light of the essence" of the
holiday.

However, her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina Wajed, chief of the main
opposition Awami League, said the festivities had come at a time
when many people "are smarting in the grip of hunger and poverty"
because of food shortages.

There were also speeches with political connotations.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia crown prince, whose country is home to
Islam's holiest shrines in Mecca, condemned extremists in the
region for exploiting Islam for their political aims.

"It is regrettable to hear Islam being accused of encouraging
terrorism and extremism," said Prince Abdallah ibn Abdel Aziz.

"Islam is opposed to extremism ... and those who do harm to
it."

In Tehran, Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for
Moslems to "unite against the growing plots of the enemies of
Islam, with the United States at their head."

"Iran holds out a hand of friendship to all Moslem peoples,
not out of weakness or need but in the name of the unity," he
told tens of thousands at an open-air ceremony of prayers. "We
regret to see that Islamic countries are today trying to
strengthen the pseudo-state of Israel," he said.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak ordered the release of 83
"repentant" Moslem fundamentalists and visited El-Nour mosque, a
site which was once a stronghold of Islamic activists but opened
last week as the country's largest mosque.

In Gaza, PLO chief Yasser Arafat ordered the release of a
number of convicts for the Idul Fitri holiday.

Rejoicing

U.S. President Bill Clinton sent his Idul Fitri wishes to
Moslems in the United States and worldwide.

"At the close of a month of fasting and sacrifice, Idul Fitri
is an occasion for rejoicing," Clinton said in a videotaped
message. "Moslems here and elsewhere are gathered to share their
joy, and to remember the less fortunate."

"Moslem values of personal commitment to faith and service to
society are also universal values," Clinton said. "They know no
barrier of nationality or race or religion. They are the values
we all share."

"To all those who follow the faith of Islam ... I extend my
best wishes with the greeting that Moslems exchange around the
world on this occasion: may peace be with you and may God grant
you health and prosperity now and in the year ahead."