Bin Laden's death won't end extremism, terrorism - MILF

Bin Laden's death won't end extremism, terrorism - MILF
07-May-11, 11:41 AM | Romy Elusfa, special to InterAksyon.com
[Share This]

MANILA, Philippines - The death of Osama bin Laden “will not end extremism or terrorism because the problem is beyond bin Laden,” a senior member of the peace negotiating panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said Saturday.

Maulana “Bobby” Alonto, believes that unless the cause of extremism or terrorism, which he identified as “US aggression against Muslim communities,” is addressed, there will always be “a resurgence of terrorism.”

Alonto, who stressed that the MILF does not agree with the methods of bin Laden, said the followers of Al-Qaeda founder in the Philippines are “negligible in number” but worried nevertheless that “informal small groups” may be able to gain the sympathy of many idealist youth who have grown frustrated with the long-drawn out peace negotiations.

The talks between the government and the MILF, which started in 1997, are at the stage where the rebels have submitted a draft comprehensive agreement to the government during their recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur on April 27-28.

Alonto said many young Moros have, in fact, been pressuring the MILF panel to abandon the peace negotiations because “nothing is happening in the talks and the government was just fooling them and playing with them.”

Some 10,000 youth held a rally in Marawi City shortly before the MILF peace panel flew to Malaysia for the 21st round of exploratory talks.

Alonto said those pressuring them to abandon the peace talks could be “potential extremists and later terrorists” if the Bangsamoro problem is not resolved soon.

He likened the situation of the Bangsamoro to the Muslim ummah (communities) worldwide, who he said are being “pushed towards extremism because of the continued aggression” of the US.

“Bin Laden is not the issue. Even if bin Laden is already dead, extremism will always be an option to many nations that are victims of foreign aggression,” Alonto said.

Abhorring terrorism “because it affects many innocent civilians,” Alonto said Al-Qaeda has been “connecting with small and informal groups” in the country, but stressed these “are not in any way part of the mainstream revolutionary movement. They are not part of the MILF.”

Alonto explained that it was “natural for any revolutionary organization to link with other groups among the ummah,” but he emphasized that the MILF “has never and will never link with any organizations similar to that of bin Laden because we know they are just using people and organizations for their own agenda.”

“We only relate with organizations on condition that there are no strings attached and we know that is not possible with the Al-Qaeda,” Alonto added. “There (have been) reports that the Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA.”
In a similar manner, he claimed, Amiril Umra Kato, a former MILF commander who led a faction that broke away from their organization, “ is also a creation of the government.”

However, he explained that Kato, who resigned as field commander of the MILF’s 106th Base Command in December and organized the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) in March, was “indirectly created by the government because of its failure to abide by and implement our agreements.”

He was referring to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the eve of its signing in August 2008. Almost immediately after the ruling, fighting broke out between the MILF and government forces in Mindanao that displaced up to 700,000 civilians.

“Had the government been true to its commitment, there could have been no BIFF today,” said Alonto. He warned that any other incident that “depicts insincerity” on the part of government in solving the Mindanao problem “is an example of a case that could breed extremism and terrorism.”

He also worried about the “flourishing of radical youth during the modern time” and said that if the Mindanao conflict is not resolved at the negotiation table soon, the armed struggle would be taken over by the emerging radical youth, who would be “difficult to talk with. And, you know, they are sons of the modern time and the modern time could produce modern and high-tech armaments.”

Sister Ma. Arnold Noel, a Catholic nun, agreed that the problem of extremism goes beyond the slain Al-Qaeda founder.

“The root cause of terrorism has to be addressed head-on. Even if you kill ten, a hundred, or thousands of bin Ladens, if the root of the problem is not solved, more bin Ladens will emerge,“ the nun said.

Protestant Pastor Reu Montecillo, chair of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus, on the other hand, said the Americans should “have turned over, or at least shown his body, to the members of the family so he could be provided with a decent burial in accordance with their Islam belief.”

Montecillo suspected the killing of bin Laden “could be a drama intended to make (US President Barack) Obama look good in the eyes of the US citizens.”

The MILF peace panel has been in Metro Manila since April 4 for a series of consultation meetings with representatives of the church, civil society organizations, businessmen and the academe. At the meetings, the rebel panel presented the draft Comprehensive Compact they submitted to government in Kuala Lumpur.
-->