BARMM taps imams, asatidz vs extremism

DAVAO CITY—THE Bangsamoro government has empowered Islamic leaders to prevent violent extremism in the region. Last week, it gathered 450 imams (Muslim religious leaders) and asatidz (Islamic teachers) with members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, the armed wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (BIAF-MILF) at Camp Darapanan in the Maguindanao municipality of Sultan Kudarat “for a capacity development program, which involved discussions on the programs on peace, security, and public safety, and the Muslim perspective in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism [PCVE].”

The Bangsamoro Information Office said the program was organized by the Bangsamoro Task Force on Ending Local Armed Conflict (BTF-ELAC), which is the regional government’s initiative in addressing armed conflict in the region. The BTF-ELAC is the counterpart of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

Minister Naguib Sinarimbo of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government said the program’s framework “is community resiliency, which aims to involve community leaders in helping counter violent extremism.”

“For instance, the Islamic teachers can include in their lectures the solutions in preventing such violence,” he said.

“Nya nin mana na sekitanu a native sa dalpa na sekitanu mismo i manguna sa kakontra sa nyaba a gabproblema sa dunya, dikena bu siya sa Pilipinas inya a problema, violent extremism anya [This means that, we, as natives of our communities, will lead in countering this global problem. Violent extremism is a problem not only in the Philippines],” Sinarimbo said.

Senior Minister Abdulraof Macacua said violent extremism “is never the answer in resolving conflict.”

BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim said that “because of the dialogues and peace agreements between the MILF and the national government, BARMM was established, which ended the long history of armed conflicts.”

Ebrahim also stressed that the struggle or jihad to uplift the lives of the Bangsamoro people will continue.

“Nya tanu den sa stage a pedtatabangay tanu sa national government. Dikena inya nya nin mana na tinelenan tanu den su jihad. Kagina jihad anya na taman sa kapatay na di mawa [We are already in the stage of working together with the national government. But this does not end our jihad. Our jihad will continue until the end of our lives],” Ebrahims said.