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By Julmunir I. Jannaral, Correspondent
COTABATO CITY: A known stalwart
of the political opposition and a Muslim leader on Wednesday broke
his silence to denounce even his fellow Muslims engaged in criminal
acts like what the Abu Sayyaf is doing in kidnapping even innocent
people engaged in humanitarian work like the three workers of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who remains in
captivity since January 15.
Lawyer Adel Tamano, spokesman of
the United Opposition and a new breed of Muslim leader these days,
said kidnapping innocent people like the members of the ICRC is
un-Islamic and should be condemned in its strongest sense.
“This is a great disservice to
our religion of Islam,” Tamano said.
Tamano told The Manila Times that
“enough is enough” for Abu Sayyaf and all these kidnappings
should stop once and for all as it has dragged the names of
peace-loving Muslim Filipinos. He also sent a message to the Abu
Sayyaf that if they are fighting in the name of Islam and for the
sake of Bangsamoro people, they must not perpetrate kidnapping at
the expense of the innocent.
“This act is more dastardly
since the victims are members of an international organization which
has been engaged for more than a century in non-sectarian
humanitarian activities and along with the Red Crescent have long
been recognized as a neutral organization which should not be
harmed,” he added.
He likewise appealed to the
kidnappers not to prolong the agony of the hostages in captivity,
but to release them without further delay unharmed and
unconditionally. He said the three ICRC workers, Swiss Andreas
Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary-Jean Lacaba should
be turned over already to the authorities in Sulu, since after all
the Abu Sayyaf as reported is not demanding anymore ransom money for
the release of the hostages.
Two weeks ago, Abu Ali, senior
leader of the Abu Sayyaf had clarified to The Manila Times in a
phone interview on the reported demand of the kidnappers for a $10
million ransom. “We are not demanding any amount of ransom in
exchange of the release of the hostages,” Abu Ali said. “The
report is a lie and devoid of truth, but was made to derail the
process of negotiation,” he added.
But Abu Ali admitted that
contrary to the previous acts of kidnapping, this time they are just
doing it to gain attention of the government since they are not
asking any ransom money anymore. He said what they are asking and
still fighting for is the self-determination of the Moro people and
their rights to establish their own Bangsamoro homeland separate and
distinct from the Republic of the Philippines.
However, a confirmed source from
Indanan, Sulu who is privy to the situation also told The Muslim
Times on condition not to be identified, said the release of the
ICRC hostages would be prolong for a number days, or it could drag
on even for months since both the military and the Abu Sayyaf do not
trust with each other and does not give in to their respective
demand.
The Abu Sayyaf is demanding for
the pullout of the military cordon that is now with the aide of
civilian armed volunteers before the formal negotiation could take
place. But the military has made an outright rejection of the demand
for the doubt that the kidnappers would transfer the hostages to
other place.
On the other hand, the kidnappers
are also suspecting that if the military would not be returned to
barrack, all of them would be annihilated right away once they had
turned over the hostages to the authorities.
No less than Defense Secretary
Gilbert Teodoro on Sunday announced that they have rejected the
demand of the Abu Sayyaf to pull out the military from the cordon so
that according to the kidnappers the negotiation for the eventual
release could be started and ease the rescue of the hostages without
further bloodshed especially to avoid jeopardizing the safety of the
hostages.
The same earlier demand from Sen.
Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross for
the military to pull out in the meantime and let the negotiators
come in for the eventual safe release of the three hostages was also
rejected.
Teodoro said any change in the
military operations against the kidnappers would solely depend on
the advice of the inter-agency task force or the Sulu Crisis
Management Committee headed by Gov. Abdusakur Tan of Sulu.
“Definitely not, we will not
pull out, we will follow the dictates of the crisis management
committee,” Teodoro further added.
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