ASEAN Leaders Urge U.S. to Stop Airstrikes Before Ramadan
By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Correspondent in Malaysia
JAKARTA, Oct. 28 (IslamOnline) - Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday called on the United States to stop the bombing campaign against Afghanistan and not to attack other Muslim countries during Ramadan, Islam's holiest month.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the U.S. and its allies should stop the bombings in Afghanistan because many civilians had been killed and because nothing had been achieved so far.
"I hope they will stop immediately, whether it is in the month of Ramadan or not,'' he said when asked to comment on talk that the military action might be halted in the holy month when Muslims throughout the world are obliged to fast from sunrise to sunset.
Mohamad said Malaysia was not the only country to hold the view. He added that Russia also felt that diplomatic initiatives should be used to resolve the Afghanistan conflict.
"Until now I have not received any reports to confirm that al-Qa'eda members have been killed in the attacks. That is why I don't agree with the war. This is not the way to solve it,'' he said.
Mohamad said the rational way to solve the conflict was to identify the causes and take more appropriate action to solve them.
Asked whether it was time for the United States to change its foreign policy, Mohamad said, "It should give consideration to the problem faced by the Palestinians and other Muslim nations.''
"I had said this at the APEC summit when meeting [George W.] Bush. It looked like he did not fully agree with me,'' he said, adding that he believed Bush condemned Israel for the recent violence, but it did not heed the call.
The Malaysian prime minister also said the media had portrayed Israel as having retaliated against the Palestinians when, in fact, it was the other way around .He said Israel appeared to be getting bolder as the world's attention remained diverted on the conflict in Afghanistan.
"It was said that [Israel] killed Palestinians because Palestinians assassinated their minister," said Mohamad. "But Palestinians killed their minister because they [Israel] killed several senior officials of the Arafat government. So, they [Palestinians] killed in retaliation."
