October 16, 2001	Tuesday	Rajab 28, 1422

RIYADH, Oct 15: Saudi Arabai and Indonesia on Monday came out with stinging criticism of the US air strikes on Afghanistan.

The United States should have dealt differently with terrorists, Saudi Arabia said, objecting to the killing of innocent people in Afghanistan.

“We wish the United States had been able to drive the terrorists out of Afghanistan without having to take the ongoing action,” Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said, quoted by the official SPA news agency.

“Because this will involve (killing) innocent people who are not guilty. Not all the Afghan people are responsible for what had happened (in New York and Washington),” he added.

Prince Nayef said the American action should have focussed only on terrorists and their supporters.

“Undoubtedly, we are not at all pleased with this situation. But this does not mean that any effort should be spared to confront and uproot terrorism,” he said.

It was the first Saudi reaction since the US-led air strikes on Afghanistan began on October 7.

Prince Nayef reiterated that Washington has not yet supplied the kingdom with any material evidence about the involvement of Saudi nationals in the September 11 attacks using hijacked airliners.

“I don’t believe this is clear. There were more than 600 passengers on board the four (hijacked) planes. We are surprised why Arabs, particularly the Saudis, have been singled out (for the blame),” the minister asked.

“Until now, we have not received any confirmation, in the form of material evidence, that the Saudi suspects had carried out the attacks either alone or in cooperation with others.

“We are against terrorism, whether the perpetrators were Saudis or non-Saudis. But it is strange that no other nationality, apart from Arabs, have been accused of carrying out this action,” Prince Nayef said.

The minister said Saudi Arabia maintained excellent political and economic relations with Washington, discounting US reports that Riyadh had been uncooperative on security matters.

Following a series of attacks against Americans in the kingdom, “security channels remained open between the two countries, and their security officials are aware that our cooperation with them was more positive than their cooperation with us,” he said.

“We wish that their (the US) cooperation with us will become better than it has been in the past and than what it is now,” Prince Nayef added.

MEGAWATI: Indonesian police on Monday teargassed a crowd protesting against the US attacks on Afghanistan as President Megawati Sukarnoputri toughened her own stance on the eight-day air raids.

Some 200 people from four radical Islamic groups had gathered outside parliament’s gates. The protest was peaceful but police fired tear gas, water cannon and blank warning shots when demonstrators refused an order to disperse.

Police attacked fleeing protesters as well about six news photographers, including an AFP photographer, witnesses saw. Some cameras were damaged and film cassettes confiscated.

Officers badly damaged at least three parked cars, smashing window glass and puncturing tyres, as well as a loudspeaker truck. Ten people were arrested.

“Today is a public holiday and they are well aware that no demonstrations are allowed on a public holiday,” said Jakarta police chief Inspector General Sofyan Jacoeb.

“They are trying to get inside the parliament complex and that is an act of anarchy,” he told reporters. “We try to negotiate with them but it seems like they have closed their hearts.

Some 500 police later surrounded the Jakarta headquarters of the militant Front for the Defenders of Islam, one of the groups involved in the protest at parliament.

The Front has threatened to attack embassies and other facilities and to “sweep” (search) for foreigners, to intimidate them into leaving Indonesia.

“We heard they want to carry out sweepings so we’re here to find out what they want to do,” said Colonel Nono Supriyono, head of the Jakarta police operational command.

Front members, some carrying sticks, blocked the alley to their headquarters with a barbed-wire barricade.

“We are trying to make sure that the Front will not leave their headquarters,” said city police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam.

There have been near-daily protests, mainly small scale, since the US attacks began, coupled with threats by hardliners against Americans and Britons.

Many protests have come from radicals. One banner outside parliament showed a picture of President George W. Bush with a message reading “Wanted by the Muslim people.”

But the air attacks have stirred misgivings even among moderate Islamic groups in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.—AFP