Muslim leaders call for halt to AFP assault

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Muslim political and religious leaders were joined Thursday by peace advocates in calling on the government to halt its offensives against Moro hardliners in Maguindanao, saying the state-initiated "surgical operations" were taking its toll mostly on civilians. Emerging from a meeting in Camp Aguinaldo Thursday afternoon, Deputy Speaker Simeon Datumanong said that he had asked Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Alexander Yano, that most of the fatalities from the military's air strikes and howitzer cannon shelling have been innocent civilians, including women and children. Datumanong said he had asked the two top government officials that the assault be halted while investigation on the incident was being conducted by the Commission on Human Rights. On September 8, the Hay-Atul Ulama El-Muslimeen in the Philippines (Federation of Muslim scholars in the Philippines) called on both the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to continue talks to resolve the conflict. In its three-page Declaration or Peace and Justice through a dialogue, the group called on both parties to respect the rights of civilians to life and property. The three-page religious declaration was signed by Mohammad Shuaib Yacob and Sheikh Zainodin Bato, respectively the group's secretary-general and president, on world celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary's birth. Lawyer Zainudin Malang of the Moro Law Advocates, Inc. who was with the human rights investigators in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, on Wednesday, said: "The (latest) incident (on September 7) happened in broad daylight, around 10 a.m. The boat was merely 200 meters away from the highway where they could be clearly seen by civilians and military personnel alike." Malang said, "Except for the father, the rest of the passengers were minors mostly grade school kids, the youngest being three (by some accounts, two) years old." He added the boat of the victims "was (with a group of fleeing) civilians (on) boats, heading for what they thought was (a safer ground toward) the highway." “About 75 meters from where the victims' rode, another boat was also fired at but was missed," Malang said. He said it was frustrating to hear a ranking military official saying that the victims were "combatants." Some of them were no taller than an M-16 (rifle)," he said. Another Moro lawyer Suharto Ambolodto posted an article on Kusog Mindanao Web page, saying the military aircrafts were fired upon, and they fired back, seeming unmindful that they could be hitting civilians, not rebels. Maj. General Raymundo Ferrer, commanding-general of the 6th Army Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the areas of conflict, said Moro rebels usually retreat from government troops' offensives with their children and other family members in tow. Ferrer called MILF to avoid building up their camps anywhere close to civilian communities. Meanwhile, in Lanao del Norte, Representative Abdullah Dimaporo was joined by hundreds of Maranao and Visayan residents in condemning the killings of civilians, including women and children in a rampage in Kauswagan and Kolambogan towns, which they blamed on MILF guerrillas under Abdullah Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo. Maranao leaders and academicians also had a dialogue with the Northern Mindanao media to help manage the conflict by giving reportorial credence to cooperation between Christian and Muslim residents amid the crisis. The Assembly of Philippine Dharul Ifta also condemned the killings of civilians in Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Maguindanao. - GMANews.TV