Kidnapped Sri Lankan peace worker sighted in Basilan

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Sri Lankan peace advocate Umar Jaleel, who was kidnapped last Friday by unidentified gunmen, was sighted in a village in Lamitan, Basilan, an official said yesterday.

Basilan Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Sakalahul, head of the provincial peace and order council (PPOC), revealed sightings of Jaleel of the Non-Violent Peaceforce following a closed-door security meeting with military officials at the 1st Marine Brigade in Tabiawan, Isabela City, Basilan late yesterday afternoon.

Sakalahul said they have not received any demands from the gunmen.

He added that Jaleel’s abductors were not identified as they were seen moving quickly toward a forested area.

He said they were still determining if those who took the Sri Lankan peace volunteer were the same kidnappers holding captive three public school teachers since Jan. 23. The teachers were abducted off Sacol Island in this city.

“The abducted Sri Lankan national and those who abducted him have been sighted but we cannot reveal the specific area because there is an ongoing effort to get him,” Sakalahul said.

“The PPOC has agreed to allow the military and police to run after the kidnappers,” he said.

Jaleel, 36, an ustadz (Muslim preacher) working as a volunteer of the non-partisan Non-Violent Peaceforce, was taken by nine gunmen who roused him from sleep in his quarters in Sitio San Jose, Barangay Moloong shortly before dawn last Friday.

A witness said he saw Jaleel being dragged by his kidnappers into a waiting van.

Jaleel had been monitoring the separatist uprising in Mindanao for four months.