PNP task force lauds blacklisting of terror group

United we should stand — against terrorism, that is.

Philippine National Police (PNP) anti-terrorism Task Force Sanglahi head Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said yesterday he supports the move of the United States to include the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiya on its list of international terrorist organizations.

Caringal said the US plan to include Jemaah Islamiya on the US terrorism list will help his men in their campaign against terrorism.

"As far as the Philippines is concerned, the Jemaah Islamiya has been tagged in several terror activities here and in other countries," he said.

Members of the Indonesia-based Islamist group were arrested in Manila for involvement in the Dec. 30, 2000 bombings that killed 22 people, including children and the chief and deputy chief of the Makati City bomb squad in separate bombings in Makati City, Cubao in Quezon City and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Blumentritt station and Plaza Ferguson in Manila. At least a hundred others, many of them children, were wounded in the blasts.

The Jemaah Islamiya has also been tagged as the group responsible for the bombing of the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta that nearly killed Ambassador Leonides Caday.

Caringal added that the Jemaah Islamiya is also believed to have been behind a plot to bomb a US facility in the city-state of Singapore and may have links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.

Task Force Sanglahi, created in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States last year, was responsible for the arrests of Jemaah Islamiya members Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozie and Agnus Dwikarna, Jemaah Islamiya members who were involved in the Rizal Day 2000 bombings.

Dwikarna, an Indonesian citizen, was convicted by local courts of illegal possession of explosives and firearms. The case is on appeal.

Al-Ghozie, also an Indonesian, pleaded guilty for illegal possession of explosives in General Santos City and falsification of birth certificates and passport in Zamboanga City.

Both Indonesians are now serving prison terms and are detained at the PNP Intelligence Group detention cell at PNP headquarters at Camp Crame.

Political Difficulties

The Task Force Sanglahi chief said his men are having difficulty pinning down other members of the Jemaah Islamiya because the group is considered a "legitimate political party" in Indonesia.

Caringal was reacting Washington’s appeal to the United Nations (UN) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last week to isolate the Jemaah Islamiya to endorse its move to include the group in its terrorist watch-list.

Because of the varying political positions taken by ASEAN’s member-nations on the classification of terrorist groups, Caringal said there is a need for the US to discuss its plans to include Jemaah Islamiya on its terrorist watch-list with ASEAN members.

Besides being a legitimate political party in Indonesia, Jemaah Islamiya has put down roots in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, a situation that could make putting this Muslim extremist group on the anti-terror watch-list difficult.

Singapore-based security analyst for the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies Andrew Tan said: "I don’t think the Indonesian government will agree to that, because they have argued that there is no compelling evidence to link Jemaah Islamiya to terrorism."

"At times, there are problems in the coordination of information and intelligence-gathering efforts because of the different political stands of the ASEAN member countries," Caringal said.

This, despite evidence unearthed by authorities in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines showing that Jemaah Islamiya had planned a bombing campaign against Singapore and the US and the convictions of Dwikarna and Al-Ghozie for involvement in the Rizal Day bombings.

Indonesian officials earlier said they have no reason to arrest Jemaah Islamiya’s leaders, saying the group is now "non-existent" after being active in the 1970s fighting for an Islamic state.

In fact, Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz openly met recently with the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiya, Abubakar Ba’assyir, and other hard-line Muslim figures accused of having terrorist links.

"Because of domestic political sensitivity, there is culpable reluctance on the part of Indonesia to extend to the US the level of cooperation the US expects," Tan said, citing the run-up to the 2004 elections in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. — With AFP