WORLD
Page 12
THE BATTALION
\\ ednesday. Jiinuan j
Indonesian president
holds talks in Ache
SABANG, Indonesia (AP)
— Indonesia’s president called
for peace during his first offi
cial visit to strife-torn Aceh
province Tuesday, hours after
nine people were killed in gun
battles between security forces
and rebels.
Six Indonesian marines and
three guerrillas died Monday
night in two separate firelights in
the region, 1,100 miles northwest
of Jakarta, local military com
mander Lt. Col. Suyatno said. Six
marines were injured.
President Abdurrahman
Wahid left Jakarta early Tues
day for talks with community
leaders in Sabang, a town on
the tiny island of We, just off
Aceh’s northern tip.
In eastern Indonesia Tues
day, Vice President Megawati
Sukarnoputri continued a sep
arate mission to put an end to
fierce fighting between Mus
lims and Christians in the
Maluku Islands, known during
Dutch colonial rule as the
Spice Islands, or Moluccas.
Almost 40 people were
We
Island
Sabang
Security forces and rebels
were killed in firelights
Takengon
Taliban, Pakistan reject U. S. reques^
to fight terrorism; share concern^
Langsa
ACEH
100 miles
100 km
"\
Simeuleui
aktuan
THAILAND y
V MALAYSIA
Jakarta
1,000 miles
1,000 km
AUSTRALIA
AP
killed there in weekend fighting, and
today on Bacan Island, about 100
houses were burned.
Christians used to have a small
majority in Maluku and North Maluku
provinces, but an influx of Muslims
from Indonesia’s other islands has
changed the religious makeup and fu
eled tensions.
Tuesday’s visit was Wahid’s first to
Aceh since he became president three
months ago. In addition to meeting with
community leaders about the violence,
Wahid has said he wants to boost Aceh's
depressed economy by reopening a Ifee
trade zone closed in 1985.
Crowds cheered the president,
who was guarded by hundreds of
troops. Indonesian Hags decorated
buildings.
Originally, his one-day visit to Sa
bang had been billed as a chance for
peace talks with a range of Acehnese
leaders, including rebels who demand
independence. But the separatist lead
ers didn’t participate Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Wahid said he was
trying hard to restore stability across
the Indonesian archipelago, which has
been plagued by both separatist and
religious violence.
“I hope all the bloodshed and misery
you have gone through — although it is
painful — will soon be over and be part
of the past," Wahid said in a speech.
On Sunday, Wahid predicted on
national television that his govern
ment would end the bitter fighting in
Aceh and Maluku by March.
However, Monday's deaths in
Aceh cast doubt over such hopes.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)—Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and Pakistan’s mil
itary leaders have rebuffed U.S. appeals to crack down on terrorism, and one mili
tant group warned Tuesday of a violent backlash if they tried.
On a visit to the region last week, a top American envoy urged the outlawing of
a group blamed for hijacking an Indian plane last month and that steps also be taken
to bring terror suspect Osama bin Laden to justice.
Pakistan did not agree to any specific actions. India
charges that Pakistan had a hand in the hijacking, a claim
that the United States has rejected.
And in neighboring Afghanistan, Taliban leaders have
refused to hand over bin Laden, charged in the United
States with masterminding the deadly bombings of U.S.
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Of particular concern to the United States is Harkat ul-
Mujahedeen, the successor to a Pakistani-based organization
that has been declared a terrorist group by Washington.
A spokesperson for a sister organization, Harkat ul-Je-
had, warned of violence if the government tried to close the
group’s offices in Pakistan.
Ashraf also called bin Laden a hero to Muslims worldwide. "Any injur
death would be a great shiKk to us and we would not stop until we ha\ese\ffi:
ished the United States,” he said.
ended with
“We will not hesitate to
take any action and be
lieve me there will be a
free-for-all in Pakistan. It
will be anarchy.”
Abu Mahmood Ashraf
Military leader
“We will not hesitate to take any action and believe me there will be a free-for-
all here in Pakistan. It will be anarchy," Abu Mahmood Ashraf said. He added that
his group trains in Pakistan and Afghanistan to light in Kashmir and "in other Mus
lim countries where Muslims are being attacked.’’
of violence inside Pakii
naming Harkat ul-Muja
Pakistan did not pror
a statement sharing Washincn
il-Muj
ahedee
n of staging the Indian Airlines hijack
freed
in exd
i.inge for the
Indian government'sKia
thr
ee members of the group.
Pakist;
an has strong!
l\ condemned the hijack
Pr<
si dent
Clinton said
l uesday there was non
tha
it Pakis
tan suppoftcc
1 it.
But St
ate Dcpartme
nt spokesperson James?'
citi
cd cone
ems tor SOftv
: time That agencies of s
iso
mi gov
eminent havi
e prov ided general sufr
run
mber c
if groups op
crating in kashmir, m
Ha
rkat ul-
Mujahedeen
U.S. A
vsistant Secre
t.irv of State Karl Indtrr
CU2
vsed ter
ronsni concer
us last week when hece
Ge
n. Pcrvi
cr. Musharraf
.uui <.‘thcr leaders of Pis
“We h<
upc that the g
ov eminent of Paki$tx>
— sic
r\st such extre
mist groups which car
an, as
well a*
> in the rcgio
n,” Indcrturth said,spec
edecn.
ISC to (
.rack d<
groups hat Indcrfiit.
P
eoplt
the n
Whei
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Church may ease restrictions on remarria^
LONDON (AP) — The Church of England, estab
lished by the much-wedded King Henry VIII, took a
step Tuesday toward approving remarriage for di
vorcees — an issue that may be of keen interest to
Britain’s next king.
Recommendations published by a group of bishops,
if adopted by the church's governing General Synod in
2002, could make it easier for Prince Charles to contem
plate marriage to his longtime love, Camilla Parker
Bowles.
But the church’s main concern is dealing with the
realities of a nation with one of the highest divorce rates
in Europe. Roughly one-third of Anglican priests al
ready remarry divorcees, and the church said 10 percent
of its marriages now involve divorcees.
“If these proposals win acceptance, the church will
not simply marry anyone who turns up and asks to be
married,” the Right Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt, bishop
of Winchester and chair of the bishops' working party
on remarriage, said.
Among the conditions: Divorced people should be
honest about the reasons for the failure of their previ
ous marriage, adequate provision should be made for
supporting children, the new relationship should not be
the cause of breaking up the previous marriage, and “a
reasonable time" should have passed since the divorce.
Bishops also recommended that remarriage should
normally not be permitted for people who have been in
volved in more than one divorce.
The decision in each case would be made by the local
priest in consultation w ith the bishop. The recommenda
tions said that no priest should be compelled to preside at
a remarriage against his or her conscience.
"This report in effect codifies w hat has already be
come practice in many parishes.” said the Right Rev
Mark Santer, bishop of Birmingham.
The proposals would have to be approved by two-
thirds majorities in all three houses of the General Syn
od — bishops, clergy and lay members.
In 1981, the General Synod adopted a resolution af
firming its belief that “marriage should always be un
dertaken as a lifelong commitment,” but noted that cir
cumstances exist in which it would be right for a
divorced person to remarry in church while the former
partner remains alive.
At a news conference announcing the recommenda
tions, church officials refused to be drawn into comment
on the case of Prince Charles, w ho is next in line to suc
ceed Queen Elizabeth II as monarch and temporal head
of the church.
Charles, w ho has been free to remarry ir.
mer w ife Princess Diana died in a 199" carta:
said he has no intention of doing so.
Under current rules, however, he couldsj
Parker Bow les because she is a divorceeasc
Km
He
liletj
Bowler
acknow ledged adultery with Pate:
each were still married. Diana hire
for the dissolution of her iw-
Charles lias said he was faithful to Diana until 3:
riage bn>kc down.
Nearly 40 percent ofmarriages in I nglandr.
end in di\ orce one of the highest rates in Eir
The church, which broke from Rome he..
King I lenry \ Ill's wish to be freed of his first-
officially barred second weddings in chore
vorcecs since the 17th century .
In 1955. the queen's sister. PnncessMjKi
cidcd against many mg the man she loved.Gt?.
Peter Townsend, because he was divorced Ik.
uncle. Edward VIII. abdicated in 1936tonurr;:
divorced American. Wallis Simpson.
Charles’ divorced sister. Princess Anne,®
second husband in the ( hurch of Scotknd,iW
um church that is not part of the Anglican Ca
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