Rights body demands end to Aceh operation

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) ad hoc team in charge of monitoring Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam urged the government on Friday to end the military operation in the province and reopen talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

M.M. Billah, who chairs the team, said many Aceh people had asked the commission to convey their demands to the government, saying the ongoing offensive against the rebels was no different from the 10-year military operation under the New Order government from 1989 to 1998.

Rampant human rights violations occurred during previous military operation, claiming thousands of lives and traumatizing the Aceh people.

"Since the government launched the so-called integrated operation on May 19, the ad hoc team has visited the province six times and conducted field investigations into the violence there.

"We met witnesses and victims and interviewed them to collect information and record the rights abuses perpetrated against them. Having seen the plight of civilians there, I would urge the government to end the military operation and give peace talks another chance," Billah told a press conference.

The government is considering extending the six-month martial law period, which will expire on Nov. 19.

A few weeks before the expiry date, a number of civilian groups and ulemas have been urging the extension of martial law. They also have also expressed fears that GAM, which is waging a guerrilla war, could regroup should the military lower its guard.

"I'm not turning a blind eye to the rallies in favor of the military operation in Aceh. But, the government should also heed the opinions voiced by other groups of Aceh civilians," he said.

During the press conference, Billah also said the latest investigation conducted by the ad hoc team had concluded that "the rights abuses are continuing in Aceh."

The latest probe took place last month in the hilly Takengon regency, where the ad hoc team found two categories of rights violations: extrajudicial executions and extrajudicial killings. At least five civilians were killed in this area.

"All the witnesses refused to describe the perpetrators. They just unidentified them as OTK," Billah said. OTK is the Indonesian acronym for unidentified persons.

Takengon is known as one Aceh regency that supports the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

"Most of the victims said the perpetrators spoke Javanese," Billah added.

In the latest development, a court-martial in Bireuen sentenced First Police Brig. M. Solihin to three years in jail for raping an Acehnese girl on June 18, 2003.

The presiding judge, Syukri, told a closed-door hearing on Tuesday that Solihin, a member of the police's paramilitary Mobile Brigade, raped the 16-year-old junior high school student when she was walking with her sister near the Cot Gapo soccer pitch.

Thousands of Aceh people who were displaced by the conflict had been living in tents erected on the pitch.

The sentence was six months less than the punishment sought by the prosecutors.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether Solihin will be discharged from the Mobile Brigade.