MANILA, Philippines?Philippine efforts to negotiate a political agreement with Muslim rebels?and its wider strategy to bring about a genuine and lasting peace in the South?will be placed under the scrutiny of international Muslim leaders who will hold a conference in Manila next month to discuss issues affecting 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)?an international organization that claims to be the collective voice of the Muslim world?will keynote the ?Third International Conference of Muslim Leaders? to be held from Jan. 9 to Jan. 11 at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.
?The gathering will be a challenge and will put pressure on the government to succeed in its peace effort in Mindanao,? said Taha Basman, chair of the Center for Moderate Muslims, which is organizing the meeting.
Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ben Mohammad Dolorfino, the highest-ranking Muslim in the Armed Forces, has been given the task of explaining to the summit delegates the ?peace campaign of the government,? said Basman.
?We hope it will enlighten stakeholders and involve the mainstream Muslim community in the sincere search for peace in the south,? he said.
Ulama from 57 Muslim nations
Basman said the conference will gather Islamic scholars (ulama) from most of the 57 member-countries of the OIC, among them Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar, and nearer home, Malaysia and Indonesia in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Over 200 participants are expected to attend the summit of Muslim leaders who will discuss the issues and problems affecting the Muslim community based on the theme, ?Redirecting Islamic Da?wah: Addressing the Contemporary Concerns of Muslims.?
One of the problems to be tackled is extremism in Islam and the issues of radicalism, deviation and disunity among Muslim groups.
According to Basman, a meeting of international Islamic leaders and their Filipino counterparts would help empower the moderates among the Muslims and would address the most important issue affecting the Muslim world, like extremism.
The CMM, which was established a few years ago to counteract the threat of Islamic radicalism in the country, would like Muslims to look into the moderate teachings of Islam as guideposts in their personal and social lives.
?Then and now, the attitude toward the moderate teachings of Islam has markedly changed from being unpopular and almost unknown both to the Muslim and the non-Muslims to being the norm,? the CMM said in a conference document.
Last week, Malacańang announced the members of the government negotiating panel, hoping that the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would get the ?signal? and agree to return to the negotiating table.
Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis heads the panel, which also includes lawyer Tomas Cabili Jr., Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, former General Santos City Mayor Adelbert Antonino, and former legislator Ronald Adamat.
No preconditions
The MILF responded by announcing that it was not changing the composition of its team of negotiators.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspended the talks last August after MILF commanders attacked and pillaged several Central Mindanao towns following the rejection by the Supreme Court of a provisional agreement that would have expanded the area of the autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao and placed it under the control of the rebel group.
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza Sunday rejected the idea of setting ?preconditions? to restart the negotiations.
?You don?t start with preconditions. That is a non-starter,? he told Radyo ng Bayan.
Vital issue
Dureza said the President had made it clear that government troops needed to continue the manhunt for the recalcitrant MILF leaders who committed the atrocities, securing communities from their depredations, while the MILF leadership took ?full control of its forces.?
?They threaten and terrorize our civilian communities so the police action continues,? he said.
Basman agreed that resolving the matter of these MILF commanders was a vital issue in the peace negotiations.
