Daily Times [Pakistan], Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Four Pakistani preachers arrested in Indonesia
JAKARTA: Indonesian police in Maluku province said on Monday they have arrested
four Pakistanis who gave sermons at a mosque.
The four were detained on Saturday in Masohi on Seram island and were taken early
on Monday to the provincial capital of Ambon for questioning, Maluku deputy police
chief Anton Bambang Suwedi told reporters.
Maluku has been under a state of emergency since September 2001 following
Christian-Muslim battles, which broke out in January 1999 and killed more than 5,000
people. All foreigners need a permit to visit. The government brokered a fragile peace
accord last February but sporadic violence has continued in Ambon, the main island.
Suwedi said the four, who were arrested after preaching at a mosque in Masohi on
Friday, had no permit to enter Maluku. "They will be deported from Maluku
immediately after their questioning is completed,” Suwedi said on ElShinta radio. He
did not name them.
He declined to say whether the four were involved in sectarian violence, where they
would be sent or when they had entered Maluku.
An Indonesian Islamic militia called Laskar Jihad sent thousands of fighters in 2000 to
join the Muslim side. It says it has now disbanded. —AFP
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