June 21, 2010, Luwaran.net, No ties with Abu Sayyaf, MILF official says,

June 21, 2010, Luwaran.net, No ties with Abu Sayyaf, MILF official says,

"We have no strategic or tactical ties with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Basilan or elsewhere."

This was the reaction of Abu Majid, an information officer of the MILF, based in Basilan, to allegation that the Front has ties with the dreaded ASG whose forte is kidnapping and other similar acts.

The Sunstar Zamboanga has carried a news article written by one of its opinion writers suggesting to the MILF to cut ties with ASGs.

Menardo Wenceslao, the writer, wrote:

"The MILF continued alliance with ASG in the island province of Basilan is downgrading their status from revolutionaries to plain kidnap-for-ransom and bandits with beastly penchant to decapitate their hostages.

He also said the separatist front cannot wash their hands clean. The ASGs moves freely in territories held by the MILF. To deny that fact only reaffirms what government is saying all along that the leadership of the MILF has no control of most of its ferocious ground commanders."

Majid appreciated the comment on the negative effects of an alliance with the ASG but vehemently disapprove of the second, saying the ASGs are local-borne and their roots are right in the province.

He said leaders and members of the ASG have relatives in both the MILF and MNLF which he said is impossible to sever because it is God-decreed.

He explained that the MILF has no and will have no links with the ASG, saying such ties will only work against and to the disadvantage of the MILF.

He said that the MILF has a clear political agenda and it is following the rules of engagement in Islam as handed to its followers by Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) more 1,400 years ago.

The Prophet (Pbuh) told his followers not to kill or harm non-combatants, not to destroy orchards, not to burn homes, and not to harm men of religion including monks and priests.

Majid also said that the MILF is also observing the rules of engagement promulgated by the United Nations especially the Geneva Conventions, Protocol 1, 2, and 3.

He also disclosed that to date the MILF has signed important documents with the Philippine government for the protection of civilians, with the UNICEF for the protection of child soldiers, and with the Geneva Call and the Philippine Campaign to Ban landmines (PCBL) the prohibition of victim-detonated landmines. LINK: