Mahmood, GAM prime minister, and his colleagues live in Sweden as political refugees

STOCKHOLM, June 10 (IslamOline.net & News Agencies) -  Unsatisfied by its military offensive waged against the Free Ache Movement (GAM), the Indonesian government unleashed Tuesday, June 10, a diplomatic campaign against the separatist movement revolutionary council, residing in Sweden.

"In a Stockholm suburb, a small group of men are having coffee and cakes in a modest living room. But they are not there to exchange pleasantries. This is the revolutionary council of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)," reported the BBC News Online.

Although there is no recognition or support from the Swedish government to GAM, Malik Mahmood, the group leader and GAM prime minister, and his colleagues live in Sweden since the early 1980s as political refugees.

An Indonesian delegation reportedly handed Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh "proof of the links between GAM representatives in Sweden and terrorist acts committed in Aceh and Indonesia," Ali Alatas, a former Indonesian foreign minister, told journalists.

Lindh said she would pass the documents on to the police and the judiciary and promised that "the authorities will take measures if Swedish laws have been broken.

"If they can see that there are reasons to act then we expect them to act," she said.

Indonesia has repeatedly asked Stockholm to curb the activities of GAM top leaders who are in exile in Sweden, a number of whom hold Swedish citizenship, but has been so far turned down by the Swedish government.

Among the leaders is Hasan di Tiro, one of the co-founders of GAM who has lived in exile in Sweden since 1979 and is a Swedish national.

Some leading Indonesian politicians have called for diplomatic relations to be severed if Sweden fails to act.

Alatas said his visit to Stockholm was a follow-up visit to a first trip made in April, to present "additional legal evidence" in accordance with the requirements of the Swedish legal system.

He said the evidence concerned "the status and activities of a number of Swedish nationals who are ... of Indonesian origin and who according to us are engaged in activities in Indonesia which are definitely criminal."

The former Indonesian diplomat claimed they were guilty of "leading, instigating and commanding an armed rebellion" in Aceh.

The proof "shows that GAM not only in Aceh but also in other parts of Indonesia has been engaged and continues to be engaged in terrorist activities, namely the bombing of shopping malls (and) the Jakarta stock exchange, which are terrorist acts, violent acts indiscriminately targeted towards innocents," he alleged.

"We do not say that terrorist acts are committed by leaders here (in Sweden), but whatever is being done both in terms of armed rebellion and terrorist acts has a link with the Swedish nationals here in the sense that they are the leaders," Alatas argued.

He said that contrary to some press reports, the Indonesian delegation had not asked for the GAM leaders to be expelled from Sweden.

Lindh stressed, for her part, that while she did not support GAM drive for an independent state, Sweden as a rule does not expel its own citizens regardless of the crime they are said to have committed.

This coincided with the heaviest battle to take place between troops of the Indonesian armed forces and GAM since martial law was imposed in Aceh.

In May, Indonesian troops launched a major offensive against GAM and martial law was declared in the province.

GAM has been fighting for the independence of Aceh since 1976, in a conflict which has claimed thousands of lives.