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Indonesia's Presdient says US bombing threatens anti-terror unity

Indonesia's President Megawatti Sukarnoputri is warning the United States that the global coalition against terrorism could crumble if the war in Afghanistan drags on with mounting civilian casualties.

In her first state of the nation speech, she urged the Bush administration to stop hostilities during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-November. The 700-member chamber reacted with cheers and applause.

The US assault continued with B-52 bombers intensifing carpet bombing of Taliban frontlines in northern Afghanistan as the Taliban claimed intense fighting was going on with the Northern Alliance south of the strategic town of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Washington has blames the September 11 suicide strikes on the United States on Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, based in Afghanistan.

In another development, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf imposed a ban on the use of loudspeakers at mosques for anything other the traditional Muslim call to prayer.

As Peter Cave reports from Islamabad, the ban comes as part of a crackdown on law and order, with the President facing increasing unrest over his support for the bombing of Afghanistan.

The new restriction on incitation at mosques follows the murder of 18 Christians in an attack on a church on Sunday. Under new regulations the Interior Ministry and Provincial governments have been ordered to take stern action against thos misusing mosques for spreading sectarian hatred and disharmony. Meanwhile the President has ordered troops to safeguard all places of worship in order to prevent a repetition of the massacre at Beharwalpur. Thirteen members of hardline Islamic groups have been arrested for those killings. Peter Cave Islamabad.

1/11/01 21:23:37 | ABC Radio Australia News

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