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Filipino Army Wages War Against Muslims in Mindanao
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Muslim
civilians are suffering because of the war
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, February 13 (IslamOnline) - The Philippines army has launched
a massive operation in Maguindanao following the explosion of a bomb
in Pikit, a city in the province, on the eve of the Eid el Adha, a
Muslim festival celebrated by the Muslim communities in the region, a
local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) said on Thursday, February
13.
Muslims
in the area calls the Eid deployment of 3000 troops, a brigade of
marines, 20 tanks, six fighter jets and six helicopter gun ships to
attack a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camp as an offensive
that signals the end of peace in the southern Philippines.
The
military has taken things into its own hands and with the impending
war on Iraq has had an upper hand on politics and diplomacy, several
Moro sources in Maguindanao told IslamOnline.
“The
same generals who were responsible for Estradas all-out war in
Mindanao are the very ones that are wreaking terror in Muslim
communities right this moment,” said Amira Lidasan, secretary
general of the Moro Christian Peoples Alliance (MCPA).
“General
Angelo Reyes’s justification that they are out to overrun MILF camps
to seize lawless elements coddled allegedly by the MILF is much too
overused and won’t fool anyone. Gen. Reyes is only reliving the
brutality of Estradas All-Out War (AOW),” the MCPA said.
Reyes
is the Philippines Defense Chief and is known for his brutal ways in
trying to solve problems the military way. He held important military
posts during the years of former President Joseph Estrada, who started
an all out war against the Muslim community.
The
12,000 strong MILF is fighting for its own territory in the Mindanao
province and has signed a peace deal with the government of Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo two years ago in Tripoli.
The
agreement was further strengthened with the signature of more accords
between the warring factions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year.
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"Why
can't they give the Muslims the chance to celebrate their
religious duties even for one day?” Charged a Philippine Roman
Catholic priest
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The
MILF, busy preparing for the attack, denied being involved in any bomb
attacks in the region. It also denied being involved with so-called
terrorist cells that may exist in the Philippines.
MILF
intelligence says the army now has a larger control over the political
decisions from Manila since the President’s endorsement of the U.S.
war on Iraq two weeks ago.
“Arroyo
was promised funds and the military was promised more equipment and
more power of decision to control and to fight the MILF and other
rebel groups,” said a member of the MILF in Cota Batu.
The
MILF officer added that it will not be surprising that the all out war
resumes in the region, but added that the Muslim group is stronger and
more cohesive than ever before, ready to face off the military
challenge.
The
Muslim group said the massive deployment of military forces is a
provocative act that will have drastic effects not only to the peace
negotiations.
The
MCPA added on its part that the military presence has displaced 20,000
innocent civilians, mostly Muslims since Eid el Adha, and that it
further affects most of the war-torn Moro communities that are
currently being rehabilitated by NGOs in Maguindanao.
The
MCPA said the military also confiscated rice, goats donated by Muslim
relief organizations, saying these were supplies for the MILF
Millions
of lives have already been wasted in Mindanao due to the scourges of
similar operations implemented by past and recent regimes, says the
MCPA.
“Anyway,
this is not surprising at all; President Arroyo’s war policy is no
different from President Bush who is now poised to attack Iraq.
“In
fact, the trends of the Arroyo governments continuous attack of Muslim
communities and of terrorist tagging Muslims all show that the end of
this so called war on terror are directed towards Muslims,” argued
Lidasan, an outspoken Muslim woman in Mindanao.
Meanwhile,
Roman Catholic parish priest Roberto Layson lashed out at the Manila
government, accusing it of showing a "lack of compassion and
religious intolerance" by launching the attacks during a Muslim
religious holiday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Why
can't they give the Muslims the chance to celebrate their religious
duties even for one day? Any holiday with a tinge of the divine and
religiosity should be respected," Layson said. "The
civilians are suffering because of the war."
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