Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). MAILA AGER/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
COTABATO CITY—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has completed its investigation of the Mamasapano fighting that left 44 police commandos dead.
“It’s done. However, we cannot release it unless our chair is around. We need his blessing for the final release of the investigation,” MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal told the Inquirer on the phone on Monday.
Pilgrimage
MILF chief Murad Ebrahim, according to Iqbal, is on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t know when he is coming back. We cannot contact him. I can’t track him and we rarely communicate now,” Iqbal said.
He said the results of the MILF investigation would be for internal use.
“We will provide our counterpart (government) with a narrative report,” Iqbal said.
On Jan. 25, members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force came to Tukanalipao village in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, for a “law enforcement operation” against Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” and a Filipino bomb expert, Basit Usman.
Zulkifli, tagged as the terrorist behind the 2002 Bali bombing in Indonesia that left more than 200 people dead, was killed in the Mamasapano operation. Usman, however, escaped.
After killing Marwan, the police commandos clashed with forces of the MILF and its breakaway wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
The Mamasapano incident has threatened peace talks between the government and the MILF, with some sectors calling for the rejection in Congress of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).
Big picture
The proposed BBL is the product of 17 years of peace negotiations. Once passed by Congress and ratified in a plebiscite, the Bangsamoro substate will replace the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“I think we need to push forward the BBL. I believe that there is still hope for us for the BBL. Let’s not concentrate on the Mamasapano incident. We need to see the big picture,” Iqbal stressed. Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao
Originally posted as of 9:24 PM | Monday, February 23, 2015
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