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By Julmunir I. Jannaral
, Correspondent
(Last of four parts)
“Every time a bomb explodes in Mindanao or
Metro Manila, the police always make Muslim communities potential
targets of discriminatory raids,” deplored the Muslim activist
Amirah Ali Lidasan.
Lidasan blames National Security Adviser
Norberto Gonzales for vilifying Christians who have embraced Islam.
“Those Christians who have converted to Islam
are the vanguard of a wave of terrorism being unleashed in Metro
Manila and in Mindanao. One thing is clear: this group deliberately
lures Christians to convert to Islam and these converts have been
manipulated to carry out the terrorist activities,” Gonzales was
quoted by a national newspaper.
“This is an irresponsible statement,”
Lidasan said. Considering the statement comes from the intelligence
chief, it could translate into policies that would give the police
and military intelligence agents the license to conduct raids on
Islamic converts’ centers like mosques and madrasahs, she warned.
Lidasan said the government should review its
policy toward Muslims. “I just pray that the situation will not
get out of hand,” she said.
Ahmad Santos, a member of the Balik-Islam
movement who went into hiding after his house in Cubao, Quezon City,
was raided by police, told The Times he would surface only if
President Arroyo makes the assurance that she still loves and cares
for Muslims.
He insists he is not a terrorist and will never
be one. He said the money used in the construction of the four-story
AIS Building, which he is listed as the owner, came from Muslim
philanthropists in the Middle East and sadaqa (charitable donations)
accumulated through the years. The government says the building was
built through money from terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda or
Jemaah Islamiah.
The building houses a mosque, the Fi Sabillillah
Da’wah & Media Foundation and the headquarters of the
Balik-Islam Unity Congress.
“I repeat: we are not terrorists and don’t
coddle terrorists in our building,” Santos said.
He said his group’s main objective is to unite
and solidify “reverts” (as Balik-Islam members are called) as a
fulcrum and pillar for other Muslim brothers.
Early this week Muslims in Metro Manila planned
a rally to condemn the raids on their communities and the arrest of
their brothers on suspicion of being terrorists.
The actor Robin Padilla, who has converted to
Islam while doing time for illegal possession of guns, will lead the
rally.
Padilla, who has adopted the Muslim name Abdul
Aziz, said he can vouch for some of the arrested suspects including
Villanueva, who used to be his bodyguard and is a part-time
broadcaster on radio station DWDD, which is run by the Armed Forces;
and Redendo Cain Dellosa, implicated in the deadly fire aboard the
SuperFerry 14 last month.
Padilla said the two men could not be Abu Sayyaf
members. “I will be the first one to restrain them if they have
any such terrorist inclination,” he said.
Padilla, who addressed President Arroyo as
“ninang” (godmother), appealed for the release of the Muslim
detainees in a live television interview.
Datu Zamzamin Ampatuan, executive director of
the Office on Muslim Affairs, said the global war on terrorism is
misdirected.
Ampatuan, an ally of President Arroyo, gave this
comment after four Turks who teach at the Imam Institute, the
Islamic school which his family owns, were arrested by the Bureau of
Immigration also last week.
At this writing, Ampatuan already has the
assurance from Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez that the
Turks would be released, since it was a case of mistaken identity.
Lidasan said it is an excuse overused by the
government. After the suspects have been paraded before media
representatives, the government would admit they are not the
suspects it is looking for. The suspects are eventually set free,
but not after they have been traumatized and humiliated.
Some detainees are even tortured into admitting
the allegations against them, she said.
“Kulang na lang sabihin ng pulis, na ang mga
Muslim din ang dapat sisihin sa pagpatay kay Jose Rizal [The police
might even blame the death of Jose Rizal on Muslims],” Lidasan
said.
“We must stand against terrorism, much more so
against ‘state terrorism,’ where incidents like these will
surely trample on the civil liberties of the peace-loving Filipino
Muslims,” Lidasan sai
Part 1
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2 |Part 3
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