COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 3, 2008) – The Filipino wife of an arrested Bangladeshi national denied Wednesday government allegations the foreigner was a terrorist.
Security forces arrested Muhammad Alpariz on Tuesday in the village of Tapayan in Sultan Mastura town in Shariff Kabunsuan, one of six provinces of the Muslim autonomous region, police and military said.
But Filipino Sulaika Rafiquellah said her husband was not Muhammad Alpariz, but Mohammad Rafiquellah. She said her 48-year old husband is not a terrorist and not a member of either the al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiya.
Police commandos, backed by army troops, swooped on the foreigner’s hideout and found improvised explosives, authorities said.
The woman insisted her husband is a Bangladeshi after Philippine television reports, including Al-Jazeera, reported the man to be a Pakistani terrorist.
In a television interview, Rafiquellah said her husband had been framed up by authorities.
“He is a farmer, a mechanic and has a cell phone repair shop in Sultan Mastura town,” she said.
She also appealed to authorities to release the foreigner, insisting he is innocent of all charges against him. Rafiquellah is facing charges of illegal possession of explosives.
Security officials did not say if the foreigner has links with either the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels or the smaller, but the most violent group called the Abu Sayyaf which authorities claimed had connections with the al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiya.
His arrest coincided with sporadic fighting between the MILF and military forces in the southern Philippines. The MLF is the country's largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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