PAS says roots of attack lie in Mideast injustice

PAS says roots of attack lie in Mideast injustice

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A senior official of Malaysia's Islamic opposition party said on Wednesday that the roots of the terrorist attacks in the United States lay in U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Hatta Ramli predicted that Washington would quickly blame Islamic extremists for the attacks, especially Osama bin Laden, already wanted for directing the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the warship USS Cole.

"We expect the U.S. to point the finger sooner, rather than later, at Islamic extremism," Hatta said. "This will affect the religion's image and further alienate Americans from not just Osama Bin Laden, but Islam as a whole."

But Hatta said that the American investigation should also take into account the situation in Iraq, where a decade-long embargo imposed during the Gulf War has stunted a generation, and at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Only then can the U.S. find answers for yesterday's tragedy," said Hatta, a member of the supreme council of the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party, this Southeast Asian country's largest opposition group.

American officials have focused on bin Laden as a leading suspect in Tuesday's attacks, in which hijacked jetliners were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

The Islamic party emerged as the biggest challenger to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's secular government in general elections in 1999.

In recent weeks, the government has detained without trial several suspects, some of them party members, accused of belonging to an alleged militant group said to be waging a campaign of robbery, murder and bombings to install an Islamic state.

The party has accused the government of trying to discredit it. Hatta speculated that Mahathir, who marked 20 years in power in July, could use the attacks to order more arrests.

"But he will be condemned by the world for using an attack in the U.S. to strengthen his rule in Malaysia," Hatta said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad canceled official visits to Germany and Russia on Wednesday due to the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Mahathir made the decision hours after postponing the first leg, a stopover in Britain where he had been scheduled to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, the national news agency Bernama reported.

From London, Mahathir had been slated to visit Russia for four days starting Wednesday to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, followed by a three-day trip to Germany.

On Tuesday, learning of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Mahathir expressed sadness but urged the U.S. government against seeking revenge, which he said could lead to even more deaths.

"What I am worried about is there will be retaliation and counter-strikes," Mahathir was quoted as saying by Bernama. "Because of these attacks, of course, America will retaliate. This retaliation will lead to the deaths of many people and will be followed by more counter-strikes."

Mahathir, 76, is Asia's longest-serving leader and has frequently been critical of U.S. dominance of the world economy and of smaller countries on security issues.

However, the United States is Malaysia's largest trading partner and Mahathir says that the U.S. is a stabilizing force in Asia.