MILF wants international group to probe govt ‘atrocities’

MANILA, Philippines - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rejected Friday the prospect of the Commission on Human Rights investigating the military's alleged killing of civilians and burning of houses in its pursuit of rebel elements in Mindanao. MILF deputy spokesman Khaled Musa said the MILF wants instead an international body to conduct the "independent" investigation into the human rights violations. "We feel very sorry for your offer; we cannot accept it. The CHR is not the right body to investigate human rights violations of soldiers in Mindanao," he said in a statement on the MILF website. Musa urged the CHR to let an international human rights group to do the investigation of both past and present human rights violations of soldiers and MILF freedom fighters. He also urged the CHR to give justice to thousands of massacred people in Mindanao and cited just a few of those that were never given a semblance of justice to this day. Among the incidents he cited were the Manili Massacre where 73 were killed inside a mosque in Carmen, North Cotabato in June 1971; Tacub Massacre where 40 were killed in Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte in November 1971; Malisbong Massacre where 1,000 were killed inside a mosque in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat in 1974; Patikul Massacre where 700 were killed in Sulu in October 1977; and Pata Island Massacre where 2,000 were killed but the government admitted only 750 in February 1981. Musa challenged De Lima to try to give justice to these massacre victims, whose only crime is being supporters of the MNLF-led struggle that time. He also asked De Lima what happened to the massacre of 15 civilians including a pregnant woman in Maimbung, Sulu last Feb. 4. In that incident, he said the CHR found Marines liable for the massacre but the Armed Forces reversed the findings. "If the CHR has clout or authority, why (were) its findings reversed?" he asked. - GMANews.TV