Attacking Officers at Mosques During Ramadan, KST Papua Violates Human Rights and the Right to Worship
The Papuan Separatist and Terrorist Group (KST) has again shown its ruthlessness by committing human rights violations and even violating international agreements regarding the right to worship. The reason is, they carried out the attack in the form of shooting at joint security personnel in the mosque area while securing the Tarawih prayer during the holy month of Ramadan.
On Saturday, March 25 2023 yesterday, there was an incident that attracted quite a lot of attention in the Ilu District, Puncak Jaya Regency, Papua Mountains Province, specifically at the Al Amaliah Mosque.
How could it not be, because there have been acts of violence committed by the Papuan Separatist and Terrorist Group (KST) again. They shot at the joint apparatus consisting of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Indonesian National Police (Polri) while securing the tarawih prayer.
Regarding this incident , the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Regional Police , Kombes Pol Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo explained the chronology of the shooting. He explained that the incident began when joint officers from the TNI and Polri were carrying out security.
When the joint officers were carrying out security for community tarawih worship activities, suddenly they immediately received shots. According to Kombes Benny, the shots aimed at the joint officers came from the front of one of the stalls at the scene.
Furthermore, he stated that the shooting was carried out by as many as 2 (two) Papuan KST members using 1 (one) short-barreled weapon and also 1 (one) long-barreled weapon.
Regarding the shooting incident carried out by KST Papua at the joint apparatus , the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Police revealed that there were 3 (three) victims, of which 2 (two) of them died.
The joint personnel from the TNI and Polri who were victims came from members of the 1714-02/Ilu Koramil by the name of Serda Riswar . He received a gunshot wound to the spine and also to the lower chin, becoming the victim who died.
Then , Kombes Benny added that there was a member of the Ilu Police on behalf of Bripda Mesak Indey who had a gunshot wound to the stomach and was also a victim who died. Meanwhile, another victim who was conscious , namely Brigadier General M. Arif Hidayat, was hit by a gunshot wound in the thigh.
Of course, with the shooting incident that was carried out by KST at the security forces, then the situation in Puncak Jaya Regency became alert one. According to the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Regional Police , the Police Chief and all of his members are continuing to increase their vigilance to anticipate the possibility of further attacks being carried out by the separatist group against their members in the field.
Not only increasing vigilance to be able to better anticipate the possibility of further attacks, but the Police are also pursuing the perpetrators of the shooting so that they can be punished according to the applicable regulations .
Meanwhile , the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Papua, Toni Wanggai , admitted that he was very concerned about the KST shooting incident at the joint security forces. Not only concerned , but he also regretted that the attack occurred because it occurred in a place of worship, namely in a mosque .
For him, a house of worship should be a place that can be far away and protected from all forms of violence. Because if there is an act of violence, let alone a shooting and terror that causes the victim to die, of course this can disturb the peace of the people in worship.
Even for whatever reason, it is absolutely not justified if there is violence but it is carried out in a place of worship. According to Toni, the incident disturbed the psychology of Muslims in the area, even though they were fasting and also tarawih during the month of Ramadan.
He also mentioned that the two soldiers who were victims died in martyrdom because they were guarding Muslims who were praying and carrying out their duties to protect the sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia . He considered that what the KKB was doing was not related to religious issues, so Toni asked all parties to see this as a criminal incident.
Firmly, the NU Papua chairman explained that in fact KST Papua continues to target security forces and even attacks could be carried out anywhere, but the incident happened by chance at a place of worship, where people really need peace. It is clear that the attack violated human rights (HAM) and violated international agreements regarding the right to worship.
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Yogyakarta
