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Friday, October 01, 2004
MILF coddling JI men, intel report insists
By Jeffery M. Tupas
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Even as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) continuously denied alleged alliance with the international terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), another government intelligence report recently came out strengthening suspicions that indeed the rebel group has links with the JI.
A police intelligence officer said that during a general assembly of MILF in Maguindanao on August 27, the MILF officials "agreed to confine the JI members" in just one camp.
The official who requested anonymity said no less than MILF chair Al Haj Murad decided to pool all the JI operatives the rebel group is reportedly coddling.
He said the JI elements inside the MILF organization will be confined in its camp in Nusa-Nusa Island in Lanao del Sur.
The area, the official said, is controlled by one Kumander Bravo.
The JI issue, he said, was one of the agenda discussed during that meeting. He said the rebels also reviewed their internal and administrative functions and policies.
"But of course the JI issue was one of the most important things that they talked about. This just confirms reports that they have link with the terrorists," he said.
But the MILF, through its spokesperson Eid Kabalu, said the report was "exaggerated, out of context, and totally ridiculous."
"Oh my God! That is not true. What the chair told us was to always keep the guards of the rank and file against the JI and not to confine them or protect them or anything like that," Kabalu said.
After the bombing in Indonesia, Murad reportedly called on all the members of the MILF to be vigilant against possible entry of JI operatives in the country.
Kabalu said this was their show of sincerity to sit opposite the government in the negotiating table.
Kabalu said the issue of JI is being recycled by some quarters in the government or other groups against the resumption of the peace talks, which is expected to restart again next month.
"They are again using this issue to block the possible resumption of the formal peace talks. This is part of a sabotage, but we are not threatened," Kabalu said.
Reports said formal peace negotiations is expected to resume in October in Malaysia. But MILF lawyer Lanang Ali last month said that with the upcoming Muslim and Christian holidays by the end of this year, the peace talks might resume early next year.
(October 1, 2004 issue)
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