MILF also ready to hunt down Sayyaf

COTABATO CITY — The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday it is willing to help the government track down Abu Sayyaf bandits who kidnapped 20 people from an island resort in Palawan.

"We wish to emphasize we will do it not for the reward but to enhance the cordiality of the GRP-MILF peace talks," said MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar.

The MILF made the offer as troops from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based here stepped up efforts to enlist the help of local Muslim and Christian religious communities in tracking down Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Army division spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said plainclothesmen have also been fielded in the South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos (Socsargen) area to capture Abu Sayyaf bandits who have incurred the ire of residents.

Jaafar said several Abu Sayyaf bandits have already been sentenced to death by MILF Shari’a courts in Basilan and Zamboanga because of their criminal offenses.

Although the MILF was a splinter group of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), MILF members are mainly ethnic Maguindanao who care little for Tausugs.

Most members of the Abu Sayyaf are Tausug and are children of former guerrillas of the MNLF, which forged a peace pact with the government in September 1996 after more than 30 years of rebellion.

Even Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) confirmed that bandit leaders close to Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafy Janjalani are either younger siblings or children of former MNLF members.

"So there is no reason for Misuari to say he cannot do anything about the problem created by the Abu Sayyaf. If he is serious in working out the attainment of lasting peace in Mindanao, he should do something," said the source, a key official of the ARMM.