Ramadan ends with fighting

This time of the month, the whole Muslim kingdom marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Eid’l Fitr. Few people know that the Hebrews also observed last weekend their New Year festival called Rosh haShanah, and are now preparing for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These are two very important Holy Days in the Jewish calendar which are observed in solemn prayer, so unlike the Chinese New Year and the Christmas season, which are celebrated as commercial holidays.

 Anyway, it is disheartening to note that fighting ensued among government troops and bandit soldiers of the Abu Sayyaf a day before Eid’l Fitr in Indanan, Jolo. Reports say that the military were out to serve warrants of arrest searching for three Abu Sayyaf leaders who were found responsible for the kidnapping of the three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last January. The bandits opened fire on the government soldiers with automatic rifles and grenade launchers and our soldiers had to defend themselves. I cannot blame our soldiers who are being accused of disrupting the solemnity of the hariraya prayers. The bandits don’t pray anyway, they just want an excuse for their banditry. I can only sympathize with the innocent civilians again, who may have been caught in crossfire, especially the helpless children. Worse, the Abu Sayyaf is again using the cloak of the Muslim religion to make legitimate their demands for a P10-million ransom for the release of the three poor teachers kidnapped in March this year. We hope the government manages to free the teachers with no casualties and without paying the ransom demand of the bandits.

A day before Eid’l Fitr, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) also pressed for the resumption of the peace talks with the primary objective of finally sealing the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, which stipulates the ceding of vast tracts of land to the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity. Otherwise, MILF threatens there will be anarchy and war down to future generations. They also refuse to surrender two MILF commanders blamed for various attacks in Mindanao since August last year after the Supreme Court issued a restraining order on the Draft Memorandum. I can only say that the MILF is not interested in having peace in Mindanao. Like a belligerent spoiled brat, it continues to demand land be given to them on a silver platter by the government, no matter the violent protests from the non-Muslims, Christians and peace-loving Muslims in the affected areas. If you will ask me, the MILF, for all its actuations and demands, is no less a bandit group than the Abu Sayyaf. It has coddled, provided sanctuary and fought side by side against government troops with the Abu Sayyaf, a splinter from the MILF and the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists for several deadly bomb attacks from Metro Manila to Zamboanga since December 2000.

Now we wonder what the Ramadan and Eid’l Fitr signify for the Muslims here. None of the words they say and their acts of terrorism are consonant with the teachings of a peaceful religion that is Islam nor are they in line with the holy teachings of the Qu’ran. The peace talks always fail because the MILF continues to demand, threaten and terrorize if government does not toe the line. Government is the ruling authority, not the MILF, and unless they recognize this, no peace can ever be achieved now or in the future. 

 At the end of Ramadan, Muslims greet each other Id Mubarak (“Happy Festival!”). Every Muslim festival which relates to happiness is prefixed with the word Id or Eid, while Mubarak means “pious”. We pray that peace loving and law abiding Muslims will truly be happy and enjoy God’s presence among them despite the circumstances.