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LEAD: Muslim leaders quiz Blair on Hamas, Iraq+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JAKARTA, March 30_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: CLARIFYING IN LAST GRAPH THAT 2 PROTESTS WERE STAGED) Islamic leaders in Indonesia demanded Thursday that visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair withdraw troops from Iraq and change British foreign policies toward the Islamic world. "We ask not only Britain but also the United States to withdraw immediately their troops from Iraq. Because the sending of the troops was a unilateral action and ignoring the role of the United Nations," said Din Syamsuddin, head of 30-million-strong Indonesian Muslim organization Muhammadiah. "Terrorism is our common enemy. If the Iraq war is a part of the war on terror, we cannot combat terrorism with terrorism," Syamsuddin said. Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra also told Blair the occupying troops in Iraq should be replaced by peacekeepers from the United Nations and members of OIC (Organization of Islamic Conferences), so it will help reduce Muslim radicalism and prevent terrorism. "Blair was so open and listened to our message. But it is not enough to just stop on interfaith dialogue, Britain should revise its foreign policy toward the Islamic world, including the one on Israel the Palestinian issue," Azra said. "I ask Britain to sit and talk with Hamas and not only dismiss Hamas as a terrorist organization. If Britain rejects talk with Hamas, it means Britain applies a double standard," Azra said. The two were among five Islamic scholars and leaders that held a dialogue with Blair, who was accompanied by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "What I found was an inspirational and at times moving occasion," Blair said of the meeting. "They are all moderate but critical," Yudhoyono said, while pointing to the five leaders in a joint press briefing with Blair at the presidential palace. Blair, making the first visit by a British Prime Minister to the most populous Muslim country in more than two decades, held talks with the Muslim leaders just after bilateral talks with Yudhoyono on various issues, including world and Asian affairs. The two also agreed to improve bilateral cooperation in business and investment, education as well as in combating transnational crimes such as terrorism. "The meeting we just had with the religious leaders here is an important opportunity for us to recommit ourselves, and for me to recommit my country, certainly, to greater understanding between the faiths and greater dialogue about the issue that concern us and how we can resolve them," Blair told reporters. Blair also said the establishment of the U.K.-Indonesia Islamic Advisory Group will promote "greater understanding not only just between our two countries, between the people of different faiths in our two countries, but hopefully that would send a signal or symbol to the outside world too of how we believe the future based on...respect for others and justice." Yudhoyono said radical groups exist in every country and religion and the governments have to deal with those groups wisely, properly and justly. "As long as they are not violating the law, we have to persuade them to see anything clearly. That's why the answer is that we have to continue communicating. Indonesia will maintain the brotherhood with Islamic countries, with ASEAN, with neighbors...continue to build our partnership with the West, with the U.K. and others to play a collective role in dealing with this issue" Yudhoyono said. Blair also visited an Islamic school in South Jakarta, where he was greeted with warm smiles and applause and bombarded with critical questions ranging from British policy on Islamic dress and the Iraq war to Israel and Palestine. "P |