Military accuses MILF of treachery for disclaiming links with Islamiyah

Police and military authorities accused yesterday the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of treachery and lying outright when it denied it had links with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), suspected terrorist cell of Osama bin Laden in Southeast Asia.

"The problem with them is that they continue to say they want peace through peaceful means while stabbing us in the back with their continued attacks on our troops and their connections with the Jemaah Islamiyah," a police intelligence official said.

The sources cited intelligence reports saying the MILF sent one of its commanders, identified as Abu Hubaira, to a clandestine terrorist meeting presided by JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir in Sabah, Malaysia two years ago.

Other participants in the meeting were known leaders of radical Muslim movements in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, the reports stated.

Among them were Laskar Jihad (Fighters of God) chieftain Jafar Omar Talib, and Laskar Junjula (Army of God) head Agus Dwikarna who was arrested and convicted early this year by a court in General Santos City for illegal possession of explosives.

The Laskar Jihad and Laskar Junjula were directly under the umbrella of the Majiles Mujahedeen Indonesia headed by Bashir.

It was also discovered that Hubaira was a member of the MILF peace panel negotiating with the government.

During the Sabah meeting, Bashir reportedly called for the formulation of a unified terrorist program for the region in line with Bin Laden’s plan to set up a "super Islamic state" in Southeast Asia, where he also intends to put up another al-Qaeda headquarters.

Foreign and local intelligence agents said the Sabah gathering was followed by a series of tactical meetings in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines early this year to draw up a plan to implement their terror plot in the region.

The JI meeting in the Philippines was held last Sept. 19 in Buluan, Maguindanao.

A Mideastern-looking man reportedly presided at the Buluan conference attended by MILF protocol officer lawyer Abdul Dataya, four other MILF commanders and a certain Ausan. The participants allegedly tackled the arrest by the police of JI operative Uskar Makawata and the launching of bombing operations in the Philippines under the supervision of a certain Salem.

Barely one month after the Buluan meeting, a series of bomb explosions rocked Kidapawan and Zamboanga cities in Mindanao and Quezon City in Metro Manila, killing over 20 people, among them an American serviceman, and injuring scores of others.

"With all these glaring facts, how can they deny their connections with the Jemaah Islamiyah?" one of the sources asked.

The sources added that the MILF was just fooling the government by claiming it wanted to peacefully end its armed struggle on the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, in an interview with CNN’s Maria Ressa, said talks have been going on with Manila pertaining the MILF.

Asked if Washington considers the MILF as a terrorist organization, Wolfowitz said, "There are concerns about that organization, but of course, there are important Philippine views" that must be considered.

"It’s got some ambiguous qualities," Wolfowitz said, adding this is something the US is discussing with the Philippine government.

He warned against groups passing themselves off as a political force while at the same time supporting terrorism.