Asians Mark Ramadan Amid Price, Security Concerns

ISLAMABAD, October 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Asian Muslims, who make up the bulk of the 1.4 billion Muslim population worldwide, celebrate the advent of the holy fasting month of Ramadan this year amid price hikes and security concerns.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, started fasting Wednesday October 5, along with Malaysia and Muslims in Thailand, and Bangladesh and Indian Muslims were likely to follow suit, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

Indonesia was starting Ramadan on a downbeat note after the Bali attacks.

The start of the holy month was also preceded by an average 126 percent hike in fuel prices and a resulting rise in other commodities, goods and services.

"Unlike the Ramadan last year, Muslims in Indonesia are entering the holy month not only with joy, but also sadness," the Pikiran Rakyat daily, the country's largest rural newspaper, said in its editorial Tuesday.

Security and prices were also the main concerns in Pakistan with 150 million people.

Extra police have been deployed at all mosques and security has been tightened across the southern Asian state, while special committees have been set up to control the prices of food items during Ramadan, officials told AFP.

Pakistan is set to usher in Ramadan Thursday.

Bangladesh, the third most populated Muslim majority nation, was hit by three bombs at courthouses Monday October 3, the latest in a series of attacks to hit the country.

But restaurants were getting ready for a busy month making Iftar.

“Iftar provides fraternity and equality," said housewife Mousimu Khanom, 35, eating at the popular food stalls in the old quarter of the capital Dhaka.

Afghanistan declared the start of Ramadan Tuesday after religious scholars sighted the first sliver of the new moon.

The war-torn state was in a difficult economic situation with some people saying Ramadan ban on eating, smoking and drinking during daylight hours would make little difference to an already destitute population.

"It's full-time Ramadan here," said Kabul businessman Bahram Sarwary, 33. "In Afghanistan most of the people don't have food to eat, there is no drinking water."

Muslim Minorities

In some Asian countries, Muslims make minorities. But still the spirit of Ramadan can easily be felt and seen.

In mainly Buddhist Thailand, the government said state-owned television would broadcast Tarawih (evening) prayers from Saudi Arabia to villages in the country's Muslim-dominated south.

"We are being careful," during Ramadan, Thai Defense Minister Thammarak Issarangkura Na Ayutthayahe said this week.

Prayer calls early Tuesday in the mostly Catholic Philippines ushered in Ramadan for the minority of four million Muslims in the south of the country.

Armed police patrolled the southern city of Zamboanga saying they were trying to prevent attacks by the extremist group Abu Sayyaf.

But the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has fought for the restoration of an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines since 1978, said it would help secure the peace during Ramadan.

There were also hopes for peace in the Indian sector of Kashmir, where steadily improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have led to a relative lull in the 16-year bloodbaths.

Mufti Bashiruddin, the grand mufti of Kashmir, urged Islamists and the Indian security forces to call a ceasefire.

"Such a move, I'm confident, will have tremendous positive impact on the local population," he said.