Suara Fears Escalation Of Violence In Sulu

THE SUARA PARTY LIST expressed fear Wednesday over a possible escalation of more violence in the province of Sulu as skirmishes between the Abu Sayyaf Group and government troops are rapidly slipping out of hand.

This, as the involvement of members of the Moro National Liberation Front in the fighting is also dreaded as inevitable because government troopers are now hunting down members of the Abu Sayyaf in the areas considered as territory of the MNLF.

Zaynab Ampatuan, national deputy secretary general of Suara, said the operations against the Abu Sayyaf in an MNLF area is an open invitation for a confrontation.

“We think that government troops are teasing the MNLF to shoot at them. The situation in Sulu is very critical now knowing that the government and MNLF officials are still ironing the kinks of the final peace agreement they signed in 1996,” Ampatuan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

“We hope that the MNLF will not be ensnared and drag themselves into a situation that will absolutely endanger the peace negotiations,” Ampatuan said.

The military, through Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commander of the joint special operations forces hunting down the Abu Sayyaf, said that they were able to receive information that the MNLF is coddling members of the Abu Sayyaf.

Marine Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, however, said that he has advised Pabustan not to believe in the report as “somebody is trying to get the AFP to the MNLF and start a confrontation again.” At least 13 scout rangers were reportedly hurt while six soldiers were killed in the gun battle that already involved members of the MNLF.

This came after the scout rangers conducted a hot pursuit operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits who fled and allegedly sought refuge in MNLF camp in Jolo’s Sitio Marang, Barangay Buanza.

Ampatuan said they were able to receive reports that a number of civilian Moro families have left their homes again for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

“Evacuation seems to be a never ending affair of the Moro people as the government continues to advance its misplaced policies like the antiterrorism law which, in the end, only hurt the civilians more than their supposed targets,” Ampatuan said.

“We fear that civilians will again be the casualties of this recent clash as it did before. The fighting has to stop for the sake of the civilians—the children, the elderly and women,” Ampatuan added.