(IPS) analysis

Within hours of the US-led bombardment of Afghanistan Sunday night, there were signs that the support Washington enjoyed from among governments in the Muslim world in its 'war against terrorism' was on shaky ground.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad provided the clearest indication of the tenuous state of such support and questioned the attack in his address during the opening of parliament on Monday.

''Conventional war cannot overcome terrorism and defeat terrorists, it can only result in innocent people becoming victims,'' said Mahathir, whose government backed the US in its drive to create an international coalition to crush terrorism perpetrated by radical Muslim groups.

Other leaders from countries with predominantly Muslim populations, like Indonesia and Bangladesh, were circumspect about the attack that involved the US and British air strikes, which are said to have killed more than 20 people in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

In a statement, the government of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, expressed concern about civilian casualties in the air strikes and said they should be limited.

During his Monday address to the nation, Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf was extremely cautious in talking about the attack, well aware of anger about the attack among religious groups in the country.

He restated his government's ''decision to be part of the world community and a coalition to fight terrorism'', including sharing intelligence with Washington, providing logistics support and use of its airspace. But the military action against targets in Afghanistan, he said, should be ''short, sharp and targeted''.

By contrast, the night-time air strikes received overwhelming approval from non-Muslim countries in the region, like Japan, the Philippines and India. China offered tacit approval of the strikes.

Global alliances opposed

What underlies the reaction from governments in Muslim countries is their growing awareness about domestic opposition from some quarters to the new global alliances that have been shaped after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US, for which Washington retaliated with Sunday's attacks.

Vocal members from extremist Muslim groups have openly challenged this alliance, which has governments in Muslim countries backing the US in its military campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan - a Muslim country.

Sunday night's air strikes triggered a hostile response from these groups. By Monday, radical groups in Indonesia were threatening to hunt down US citizens and were also calling for the US embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to be attacked.

''They are terrorists that must be driven from the face of the earth,'' Antara , Indonesia's state news agency, quoted the leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as having said of the US. ''The US is a terrorist nation.''

There were similar cries made by Pakistanis in Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border, where angry men chanted ''America is a terrorist''. In other quarters, leading religious leaders condemned the strike, deeming it an attack against Islam.

Bangladesh also witnessed anti-US protests, which come on the heels of protests conducted last Friday, where the US flag and effigies of the US President George W Bush were burnt.

Adding to such hostility was a televised broadcast of a pre-recorded statement made by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident named by the US as the prime suspect behind the Sept 11 attacks that killed an estimated 5,000 people in New York and Washington.

''Millions of innocent children are being killed as I speak. They are being killed in Iraq without committing any sins, and we do not hear condemnation of a 'fatwa' (religious edict) from the rulers,'' said Osama in the statement, which was aired after the air strikes on Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based Arabic satellite station.

''In these days, Israel tanks infest Palestine - in Jenin, Ramallah, Rafah, Beit Jalla and other places in the land of Islam, and we do not hear anyone raising his voice or moving a limb,'' he added.

These sentiments were echoed by Ayman al-Zawahri, the deputy in Osama's organisation, Al-Qaeda. ''People of America, your government is leading you into a losing battle. Remember that your government was defeated in Vietnam, fled in panic from Lebanon, rushed out of Somalia, and was slapped across the face in Aden,'' al-Zawahri said in the broadcast.

Beyond this, governments have had to face hostility within the halls of power.

What evidence

In Malaysia, for instance, the opposition Pan Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) was unequivocal in its criticism of the US. Its information chief, Azizan Abdul Razak, said it came at a time when the world was still asking what evidence the US had against Osama.

PAS condemned the Sept 11 attacks on the US but felt that war was not the solution and the loss of more innocent lives had to be avoided, added Azizan. ''As for the Malaysian government, PAS hopes it will never ever be in league with America in attacking Afghanistan.''

Meanwhile in Indonesia, President Megawati Sukarnoputri cannot ignore the pressure coming from Hamzah Haz, Indonesia's vice president and a key political ally.

Hamzah, who is the leader of the largest Muslim party in the Indonesian parliament, was among those who initially said that Jakarta would not stop Indonesians wanting to travel to Afghanistan to participate in a 'jihad' or holy war.

Other disagreements between the two political leaders, with Hamzah pushing increasingly for greater Islamisation of a largely secular Indonesia, have also surfaced of late.

''Hamzah wanted to enshrine the position of syariah (Islamic law), as set forth in the Jakarta Charter, in the Constitution, but Megawati, through her party, objected to the idea, '' stated the English-language daily Jakarta Post .

These signs of emerging discontent could lead to sharp divisions within the Muslim world, between the governing and the governed and within the ruling establishment, given the prospect of continued US-led strikes in this first war of the 21st century.