Addressing the decades-long restiveness in the Indonesian province of Aceh was never going to be easy, but the recent calls for more military troops or martial rule offers even less real solutions, critics here say.

They expressed concern that the pursuit of a more of a military approach would make things worse for the people affected by violence in Aceh, adding that the labeling of separatists under the ''terrorism'' label has muddled the issue further.

These do little to address the roots of resentment and separatist sentiment there, which are linked to decades of rights abuses under the Suharto rule, the province's failure to get an adequate share of revenues from its oil and gas resources, and the failure to address these rights violations until today.

"We don't want a drop of blood to fall onto this land any more. No more blood. No more casualties," Hasballah Saad, an Aceh community figure and a former human rights minister said.

''Martial law, or a state of emergency, is not the best solutions for Aceh,'' Rufriado, coordinator of the Legal Aid for Aceh group, said of the province of 4 million people on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island.

''Martial law will not work because the military is incapable of solving Aceh's problems,'' he said.

Martial law option

Martial law and a state of emergency was the option discussed earlier this month with Acehnese officials and groups by Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited the province to try to gain support for this way of addressing the 26-year-old insurgency.

The proposal comes amid signs that the military is becoming increasingly dominant in matters affecting Aceh. In January, President Megawati Sukarnoputri, re-established the Iskandar Muda Regional Military Command in Aceh.

At the same time, the military is increasingly frustrated by the inability of repeated offensives to crush the separatist movement led by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

After a week-long visit to Aceh — where he failed to get local leaders' agreement to institute military emergency — Yudhoyono asked Megawati to approve the deployment of 8,000 more troops to the province, local newspapers said. The chief of the Iskandar Muda had earlier also proposed troop additions.

There are at least 22,000 troops there now and 8,000 paramilitary policemen, facing an estimated 3,000 separatist guerrillas.

The death toll in more than two decades of the conflict has exceeded 10,000, mostly civilians.

18 kidnapped

Aceh separatist guerrillas have kidnapped 18 people since last month, officials say. They also stopped a ship of Exxon Mobil, which has operations at the Arun gas site, and kidnapped those on board, but released them later as the military threatened to take action. GAM also kidnapped three Indonesian reporters a few months ago.

"Should our soldiers stand idle while they are shot? Should they just appeal to the separatists while they set schools on fire, murder civilians, kidnap our public servants or sabotage public facilities? Please say your suggestions," said Maj Gen. M Djali Jusuf, chief of the Iskandar Muda Military Command.

"Our attempts to peaceful solution and dialogue do not work yet and even the separatists are making use of it to consolidate their force and spread terror," Yudhoyono said in Aceh.

But Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said after meeting him: "Aceh people believe that peaceful solution, dialogue and other non-military approaches are the best way of restoring security in this area. So we disagree with martial law or civil emergency.''

Reports say Yudhoyono is seeking parliamentary support for the state of emergency and martial law plan, but many say he is likely to fail. There is also talk that he will decide on a policy on Aceh at month's end.

Earlier, a group of 20 NGOS working in Aceh issued a joint communique stating that a military approach would do little good.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, whose government had tried pullingout some troops at one point, said that martial law would create more resistance and that civilians would bear the brunt of this. ''GAM will use Acehnese people to resist,'' he added.

Many also fear any return to the decade starting 1989, when Aceh was declared a military operation area, along with restive provinces like Papua and East Timor, and human rights abuses by the military peaked as it tried to quell the insurgency.

But military officials argue that it is time for tougher action against ''terrorists'', in what critics see as an attempt to lump separatism and dissent under the 'terrorism' label after the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.

Dealing with terrorists

"We are dealing with terrorists. They kidnap civilians. They burn down schools. They destroy electricity installations. Still, we are forced to engage in dialogue with them. Does the US hold dialogue with terrorists? Do European countries hold dialogue with terrorists?" Yudhoyono asked.

In many ways, the use of the word ''terrorism'' has drowned out real public debate on the Aceh situation.

''Using the word 'terrorism' is out of the question. How can we call a group of people fighting for independence terrorists?'' asked Hendardi, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. ''It seems that they are just building a rationale to crush GAM violently.''

But GAM ''is an armed resistance, no question about it. It's not a student movement or something like that. It's a threat to national integrity, a realm that the military has responsibility over,'' said Army chief Gen Ryamizard Ryacudu.

Attempts by peace advocates have been underway since 2000 to get Jakarta and GAM to enter into negotiations. The last meeting was held in Geneva in May, but it is taking some time and the military is sceptical of it.

Yudhoyono conceded that ''we will build a more intensive communication with local people," adding that he would spend more time traveling in Acehnese villages.

Megawati recently sent Welfare Minister Jusuf Kalla to initiate economic programmes for Aceh, and has allocated 5 trillion rupiah (US$570 million) for a 'crash development programme' there. — IPS