[Gulf Today] A senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said the front still considers itself a "revolutionary organization" pending full implementation of its peace agreement with the Philippine government.
In a letter addressed to a Senate committee, Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF's chief peace negotiator, said that while the front has signed a peace agreement with the government "after 18 years of intermittent war and negotiations, that peace agreement has yet to be implemented. Until that peace agreement is fully implemented, we will remain to be a revolutionary organization."
Iqbal wrote the letter to explain his absence from a hearing which is being conducted to look into the killing of 44 police commandos during a botched law enforcement mission on January 25.
In the same letter, Iqbal said the MILF's central committee had approved his appearance at a date which has yet to be scheduled as he requested that he be allowed to testify in a session closed to the public and media. But most of the senators opposed the request, saying this would not be fair to senior government officials and ranking security officers who testified in an open hearing covered live on radio and TV.
Still unconfirmed reports said weapons, including heavy guns, seized from the "fallen 44" by the MILF and BIFF members were being sold in Mindanao. |