ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Muslim groups here deplored the resolution of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) declaring their support and recognition on Nur Misuari as sole leader despite the bloody attack last year that left over 200 people killed and 120,000 displaced in this city which the former was believed to have masterminded.
The Muslim leaders, who belonged to peace advocate groups, also criticized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for dithering on the atrocities staged by the forces of Misuari that devastated the city in 2013.
“The OIC support of Misuari, despite what the MNLF did to our city, smacks of arrogance in the lack of appreciation of the lives lost and properties destroyed by Misuari's men,” Prof. Ali T. Yacub, Al-Haj, president of the Golden Crescent Consortium of Peace Builders and Affiliates, said.
“The OIC must explain its position regarding this matter,” Yacub added.
Jaafar Kimpa, president of a Badjao-organization called Jabu-Jabu (The Calling), said the OIC should instead call for justice and help rebuild Zamboanga City.
The Muslim indigenous leader said the OIC should put premium to the concerns of the Bangsamoro people, who are the victims of the armed conflict, rather than focus its attention to a single person.
Kimpa said the OIC should “interfere” in the Bangsamoro peace process positively rather than create divisiveness among the Muslims in Mindanao, noting that the OIC until now failed to peacefully address the long-running violence in some middle-eastern countries such as Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
The Muslim leaders added that the pledge of loyalty to Misuari by the MNLF leaders raised more concerns than assurance of peace and stability.
The MNLF leaders confirmed the pledge of support to Misuari was contained in one of the seven-point resolution passed on June 11 during their assembly prior to the coordinating meeting with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) facilitated by the OIC in Jeddah.
Habib Mudjahab Hashim, of the MNLF’s Islamic Command Council (ICC) said support was stipulated in the second to the last paragraph of their resolution that calls for the MNLF leaders to maintain “oneness" under the Misuari leadership.
Randolph Parcasio, MNLF legal adviser and the spokesman of the unified MNLF, and Abdul Sahrin, secretary general of the MNLF-Muslimin Sema faction, confirmed the existence of the resolution dubbed as the Jeddah formula.
Aside from Parcasio and Hashim, the other signatories were Muslimen Sema, Hatimil Hassan, Ustadz Abdulbaki Abubakar, Jimmy Labawan, Abdul Jabbar Narra, Yahodza Simpal, Shakiruddin Bajin, and Mashur Jundam.
Sahrin, however, noted that there is a crack as some MNLF leaders have signed the resolution with reservations.
“I have not made up my mind yet. I think [MNLF leader Muslimen] Sema and [Hatimil] Hassan signed the document (resolution) under pressure. They were outnumbered,” he said, when asked if he supports the loyalty pledge signed by their leaders to Misuari.
Sahrin disclosed that the pressure comes from the “OIC and that of Misuari’s people.”
Hashim said the leaders also requested the Philippine government to drop the warrant of arrest against Misuari to allow the leader to travel abroad to participate in meetings with the OIC while they recognize the legal process on the cases against the MNLF chairman.
Parcasio on the other hand in a text statement said the the healing process can start with the withdrawal of Nur’s warrant of arrest, citing Misuari claimed to have no control over MNLF commanders in the Zamboanga tragedy.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed charges of rebellion and violation of international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity against Misuari and close to 300 captured followers.
Some MNLF members have admitted that they were duped to join the attack after they were promised P10, 000 each to participate in a “peace rally” by Misuari.
In its Ramadan message, Peace Advocates Zamboanga asked Misuari to redeem himself.
“Will his fast and prayers purge the vast anger from his heart? It was his anger against the GPH-MILF peace deal that pushed him to lay the siege, finally going over the brink by the refusal of government to allow his men to stage a peace rally in Zamboanga City against that emerging peace agreement and instead throwing a military cordon around his house in San Roque,” it said.
“The peace process has always been and will continue for a long time to be a complicated thing, a Gordian knot for the nation. Misuari’s opposition to the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, by which he enjoys the sympathy of OIC, is not sufficient excuse for the atrocities he caused last September and its unending harsh consequences on the victims of the war. The end does not justify the means, especially when all the protagonists were sitting around the peace table. Thousands of the victims of the violence are his fellow Muslims,” it added. - Roel Pareño