Below, we reproduce the text of  a letter sent this week by the Japanese Communist Party to the world's heads of government urging them to stop the war and proceed to the extradition and fair trial, through the United Nations, of suspects charged with the September 11 attack. In its usual style,  the JCP concentrates on rational and legal action through established procedure and opposes violence from whichever side it comes.  They also take bin Laden's publicly stated support for the action as sufficient to seek extradition.

As John Manning, an American expert on the JCP who will be familiar to regular readers writes, “as representatives of a country once virtually destroyed by resorting to war, they have a belief that if reasoned orderly negotiation and legal procedure, and not violence, can be adhered to, then humanity's problems can be worked out successfully and humanity will have a future.”

The U.S. military forces along with the British forces initiated military attacks on Afghanistan on the night of October 7, Afghan time.

In the letter addressed to the heads of State and Government dated September 17, we condemned the massive terrorist attacks on the United States; we at the same time expressed our conviction that what is necessary to resolve the problem is not a rush to military retaliation, but indicting the perpetrators of the terror crimes and those who harbor them and applying sanctions against them to bring about their extradition, thus bringing them to justice with the United Nations at the center and based on the UN Charter and international law.

Without exhausting every means for indicting and applying sanctions with the United Nations at the center, a few countries started military attacks on Afghanistan. We cannot but point out that this will pose a great danger of creating more victims among those who took no part in the terror crimes, and also make it all the more difficult to find a reasonable solution.

Harboring hope for ending terrorism and achieving peace among nations, we once again send your Government a letter, and convey our position and proposal.

(1) The military strikes are taking the shape of a retaliatory war. In Afghanistan, a  non-governmental organization engaged in UN humanitarian aid was wrongly bombed and some of its employees were killed and injured, and thus more deaths are being caused among civilians. More and more innocent civilians are being victimized by the continued and expanded military action, which cannot be overlooked.

The U.S. government in its letter of October 7 addressed to the UN Security Council made mention of the possibility of expanding the targeted countries of its military attacks beyond Afghanistan. This has caused us strong worry about a possible expansion of the war on a larger scale.

It is also grave that splits and contradictions are growing among international public opinion which so far has been firmly united on the elimination of terrorism. A number of governments of Islamic countries are expressing opposition to the use of arms, and protests are spreading among Muslims. These splits will without fail give the terrorist forces the golden opportunity to expand their destructive activities. In this regard also, the situation is heading in an apprehensive direction.

Worse still, there is no certain prospect for reaching the target of apprehending the suspects and eliminating terrorism by continuing these military attacks.

(2) Who launched the heinous and massive terror attacks on the United States? The fundamental prerequisite to solve the case is identification of the perpetrators. In this context, Osama bin Laden's statement in the video footage broadcast on October 8 was of grave significance, which contained the following points:

--He expressed his total glorification of the terrorist attacks on the United States as a punishment by God, not a crime;

--In the face of the fact that he is suspected as the perpetrator by the world, he made no clarification whatsoever to deny the charges in his lengthy address;

--He virtually announced further terror attacks on the United States and other targets.

This is nothing but verification by himself of the serious charges that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which he organized, were involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States and carried them out.

The Taliban has recognized that the terror attacks on the United States are a crime, and stated that had the charges on bin Laden become clear it would hand him over. It is now evident that extradition of bin Laden and his terrorist group is the Taliban's obligation to the international community.

(3) Based on these points, we believe what is now necessary is to shift the course of combating terrorism from military attacks and escalation of war waged by a handful of countries to sanctions and "justice" under the responsibility of the whole international community. We seek your understanding of this significance and appeal to the international community

to this effect. From this position, we call for cessation of the ongoing military attacks. Only through this course can we rebuild the broadest international solidarity against terrorism, and proceed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism by encircling and isolating the forces of terror.

Our proposals are as follows:

First, the United Nations should officially confirm the charges against bin Laden over the recent terror incident and demand that the Taliban extradite bin Laden.

Second, if the Taliban refuses his extradition, the United Nations should apply sanctions as enforcement measures in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter with full humanitarian consideration for the Afghan people. "Non-military measures", including economic sanctions, should be first applied on the basis of Article 41 of the UN Charter. But even after its full application, if the international community considers that those measures would be inadequate, it may be possible to take military measures based on Article 42 of the UN Charter.

Third, as regards bin Laden and other suspects, the whole truth should be brought to light by fair trial and they should be punished. Considering that the terrorist attacks were aimed at not only the United States but also the international community as a whole, setting up of a special international court under the United Nations should be studied.

All these measures have to be carried out through the united efforts of the international community with the United Nations at the center and under its control. For the elimination of international terrorism, it is vital to create, through isolation of terrorists by the whole international community, a situation in which there is no place for the terrorists to hide in the world. There is no organization but the United Nations that can play a central role and has the authority to carry it out.

We stress our conviction that this is the way to resolve the present situation based on reason and rational action.

The JCP wholeheartedly calls upon your Government to give this proposal due consideration and take a positive action in this direction to help arrive at a solution.

Tetsuzo FUWA Chairman, Central Committee Japanese Communist Party, Member, House of Representatives

Kazuo SHII, Chairman, Executive Committee Japanese Communist Party, Member, House of Representatives