MNLF slams government’s ‘divide and rule’ tactics

ZAMBOANGA CITY , Philippines   â€“ The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has accused the administration of engaging in “divide and rule” tactics in implementing the 1996 final peace agreement.

Senior MNLF leader Habib Mujahad Hashim, Islamic Command Council (ICC) chairman, said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) has asserted that the three contentious points in the tripartite meeting have been complied with.

“Now, what they are trying to do is to draw the support of the majority of the MNLF senior leaders into their side,” he said. “That is why I did not attend that forum.”

Last week, the OPAPP  and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) sponsored a forum with senior MNLF leaders to clarify the 1996 final peace accord.

Hashim said the OPAPP wants the MNLF senior leaders to pass a resolution showing   support for ending the tripartite meeting.

“The effort is clearly a part of the government’s divide and rule policy, whose focus now is appeasement instead of the 1996 MNLF-GPH final peace agreement,” he said. “They want to put closure, put an end to the tripartite agreement. And what they really want is to abrogate the agreement in favor of the BFA (Bangsamoro Framework Agreement).”

He said a participating senior MNLF leader had informed him that they were being used to back up the government in ending the tripartite meeting, which will resume in Manila on Sept. 5 and 6 and on Sept. 12 and 13 in Jakarta, Indonesia with the representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Hashim said Nur Misuari wants to meet President Aquino to discuss the problem with the MNLF.

“His mother met with Misuari, why can’t he?,” he said. “He even received a fugitive like (Janet) Napoles.”