PAS president Fadzil Noor today condemned yesterday's arrests of five religious school teachers and a businessman under the Internal Security Act, allegedly for their "militant activities".

The Barisan Nasional government has again "violated" the rights of its citizens by not bringing those detained to an open court, the opposition leader told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

The six were detained yesterday for allegedly being members of the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (KMM) which police say had undergone training in Afghanistan and is responsible for a spate of crimes.

The crackdown on KMM began in August when police detained 10 men who were mostly PAS members, under the ISA, which allows detention without trial.

Nine of them, including the son of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat, are undergoing a two-year detention at the Kamunting detention camp in Perak.

Fadzil said the authorities had about two months to investigate and gather proof but nothing has been revealed thus far.

"So far the government has given no proper answers except making repeated baseless accusations," he said.

"Detaining them at Kamunting will not solve the problem. There is no other way but to present a White Paper on this matter or an open acknowledgment to replace justice in an open court," he added.

However, Fadzil said he could not ascertain whether the six detained yesterday were PAS members.

ISA effective

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the Dewan Rakyat that the government had identified a number of people involved in militant activities.

Abdullah said many of them received training from the Mujahideen group in Pakistan and had established links in Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, Johor and Perak.

This group also sent its members to Ambon, Indonesia to wage war against the Christians there, added Abdullah, who is also the deputy prime minister.

"Many are either linked or were members of an opposition party in this country. They have links with Islamic radicals in Indonesia and have worked together for a jihad (holy war).

"We are still investigating if there were more groups. We will use the ISA, even though it is being criticised, to deal with this problem. This is the most effective way," he said.

The deputy premier said the "deviated" group was led by Adli Nik Mat, the son of Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz.

"This group committed serious crimes such as murder, burning down of holy shrines, robbery and was a threat to national security," stressed Abdullah.

KMM members have been blamed for a number of robberies, the bombing of a church and temple, and the assassination of former Lunas state assemblyman Joe Fernandez.

Police torture

Meanwhile, Fadzil queried whether the police had tortured any of those arrested.

The opposition leader related an incident in Johor where a detainee was found to be "mentally unsound" after his release from police custody.

"He even called his mother ' tuan ' (master). He saw everyone as a police officer who was out to torture him," said Fadzil.

However, Abdullah denied that the police had mentally and physically tortured the detainees.

As to questions whether a White Paper would be presented on the issue, Abdullah said the government planned to present them on various incidents including the KMM but could not do so as their court cases were still pending.