KUWAIT CITY, 13 March 2003 — A hard-line group in Kuwait issued a statement yesterday saying participating in any military action against Iraq was religiously forbidden.

The Salaf Movement in Kuwait said attacking the Iraqi people in any form or by any means was religiously forbidden, in a clear reference to more than 150,000 US and British soldiers currently deployed in Kuwait in preparation for a possible war.

The statement called on all Muslim governments and individuals around the world “to unite to confront the new crusading military campaigns with their occupation plans aimed at controlling the Islamic world.”

The group said the military crusaders wanted to rearrange Islamic countries “for their own interest, to control their (oil) fortunes, and to impose Western culture and values on Muslim communities under the slogan of fighting terrorism and fanaticism.”

They claimed that the military intended to “confiscate peoples’ rights as is happening in Palestine” and aimed to guarantee Israeli security and its military superiority at the expense of the legal rights of the people in the region.

The Salaf warned Muslims not to believe “foreign double-crossing promises to achieve freedom and democracy at the expense of their people and country’s independence.” A military campaign on Iraq would lead to “catastrophe,” it said.

The group went on to advise Muslims to help the Iraqi people in their time of crisis.

The Salaf Movement in Kuwait is not the largest group in the emirate, but it has tens of thousands of devoted followers.

Meanwhile, a possible delay in war boosted the Kuwaiti stock market yesterday. The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) closed up 0.7 percent, regaining initial losses caused by rumors that US military operations had been launched in southern Iraq, economists said. The index finished on 2,695.6 points, up 20.8 points on the week and 13.48 percent on the year.

The market, reduced to a four-day trading week because of Saturday’s public holiday, shed 31.9 points on Sunday over war fears.

“The index went down the first day because we were expecting the war to start,” said economist and trader Ali Al-Nimesh.

“There were rumors in the market that operations had already started in the south of Iraq and traders anticipated the market would be closed. But it was just a rumor.”