Hussin hits ‘renegade’ MNLF leaders over sacking

COTABATO CITY — Former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Parouk Hussin has brushed aside as "virtually inappropriate" his relief as foreign affairs chief of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Hussin said it is impossible for a group of "renegade" MNLF leaders to strip him of the position, which he had been occupying for more than three decades, without the concurrence of the front’s jailed founding chairman, Nur Misuari.

Hussin, who hails from Maimbung, a remote town in Sulu, said he has, in fact, received inquiries from the governments of Muslim countries, on the validity of his reported suspension as the front’s foreign affairs chief and the legitimacy of the group that ousted him from the MNLF’s central leadership.

"I have spent the prime years of my life to the struggle as foreign affairs officer of the MNLF. I also spent my own money in the performance of my duties and, from nowhere, a group would emerge and, without imprimatur from the MNLF’s genuine echelon, unseat me just like that. That’s inappropriate," Hussin told The STAR in a cellular phone interview.

MNLF sources said the front decided Hussin’s suspension during a meeting here last week.

The signatories to the resolution belong to the same group that declared Misuari as MNLF chairman emeritus in 2000 and assumed the front’s leadership in a dramatic takeover that subsequently resulted in the fragmentation of the supposedly monolithic revolutionary group into four factions.

"Maybe they want me out because in close coordination with the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) and our founding chairman, brother Nur Misuari, I am trying to reunite the MNLF under one banner again," Hussin said.

The OIC helped broker the Sept. 2, 1996 peace pact between the government and the MNLF.

Hussin said he is certain that the group that stripped him of his position in the front is aimed at attracting the attention of the OIC, which is scheduled to host a tripartite meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next month to iron out perceived kinks in the implementation of the peace pact.

"The people knew well that I, along with brother Nur, both worked hard for the holding of this tripartite meeting for representatives of the MNLF, the OIC and the Philippine government to discuss the misunderstandings on the implementation of the peace agreement," Hussin said.