Murad confident on BBL

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chairman Al-Haji Murad Ebrahim expressed confidence on the passage of an undiluted Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) when he addressed the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Speaking for the first time in the Pan-Islamic group’s gathering last Thursday, Murad told OIC foreign ministers of the still “unchanged destiny” of the Muslims in the Philippines, stressing that the “Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) established in 1989 and later strengthened in 1996 failed to address the root causes of our grievances.”

“I address you today not only as chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MILF) but mainly in behalf of the Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum (BCF),” the MILF chief said at

the closing day of the 42nd Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) last Thursday.

“The passage of an undiluted BBL in sha Allah (God willing) will create a better tomorrow for the Bangsamoro,” said the MILF chief.

BBL answer to neglect

He expressed confidence the BBL is the answer to the “neglect” as the ARMM is not a genuine autonomy.

The MILF chief said it was an honor for him “to stand before this august body of the world’s largest organization of Muslim states.”

Murad said the weaknesses of the ARMM, citing the central government’s control on decision-making powers, have been addressed in the 2013 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), and the BBL.

He said the Bangsamoro, or the local Muslims in the Philippines, are about to open a new chapter in their history, made possible through the CAB achieved under President Aquino’s administration.

Murad said they want to reverse the failures of the past when agreements did not have peace dividends that paved the way for radical groups and extremism in Mindanao.

The lesson, Murad said, is that “without thorough development, conflicts will continue to prevail and the Bangsamoro will forever be at the losing end.”

“We would like to reverse the scenario by making sure that the letter and spirit of the CAB is duly implemented and create a developed and prosperous Bangsamoro,” Murad said.

‘Don’t abandon us’

Murad called on the OIC not to abandon the MILF, apparently in the wake of the difficulties the Mindanao peace process is facing.

“As we march toward the fulfillment of the implementation of the agreements we signed with the Government of the Philippines, we urge you to journey with us until we successfully implement all the agreements we signed with them,” the MILF chief said.

He also asked the OIC “to continue to urge the Philippine government to faithfully implement the CAB and pave the way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro.”

“If, by the grace of Allah, the Bangsamoro Government is established, we strongly appeal to you to help us rebuild our communities that have been ravaged by decades of war. We ask you to welcome us in the community of Muslims, establishing relations and building cultural links to our cities and your countries,” Murad added.

“As we speak here today,” Murad said, the Philippine Congress continues to deliberate on the BBL.

“A rare moment in history unfolds, as we step out of the past and embrace the promise of dawn, when we bid farewell to war and strife, and when the struggle for our people finally finds a measure of success in the building of an institution that allows them to shape their future and partake of the resources that Allah endowed them,” he said.

Murad, the successor to the late founder of the MILF, Ustadhz Salamat Hashim, recalled the Moros’ long struggle characterized by death, destruction, and despair.

The Bangsamoro Coordinating Forum is the mechanism that Murad and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari formed under the aegis of the OIC when they met on May 18, 2010 at the sidelines of the 37th CFM session in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Unity indispensable

The two Moro Fronts’ leaders agreed that “unity is indispensable to the success of the Bangsamoro struggle.” The MNLF and the MILF have no basic differences because they both seek peace, justice, and a fair solution of the Bangsamoro people’s aspirations for self-determination and economic well-being.

Former Cotabato City mayor Muslimin G. Sema, who chairs his own MNLF faction, told the Manila Bulletin earlier that they, including the MNLF-Misuari faction represented by legal counsel Randolph Parcasio, “authorized Brother Murad to speak at the OIC plenary in behalf of the BCF.”

After the OIC-CFM’s opening on Wednesday, OIC Secretary General Iyad Amin Madani convened the BCF to further efforts at strengthening the Moro Fronts’ unification of their struggle.

Mohagher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the MILF, said Murad’s speech at the OIC-CFM was the first for him.

Both the MILF and the MNLF groups were invited by Madani to the foreign ministers’ meeting.

Misuari also had an OIC invitation but he had to send three representatives since the MNLF founder cannot legally travel abroad because of the cases filed against him by the Philippine government over the September, 2013, Zamboanga City siege.

It was recalled the Philippine government and the MILF signed the FAB and the CAB, while the BBL was drafted by the MILF-led Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) as the legal rendition and implementation of the CAB. The CAB contains the FAB, the Addendum on Bangsamoro Waters, and other accords.

The OIC brokered the negotiations between the Manila government and the MNLF that resulted in the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA). In the government-MILF peace talks, the OIC is an observer, while its member Malaysia is third-party facilitator.

OIC lauded

Murad lauded the OIC, or the Islamic world, for its concerted effort in helping Muslim minorities in various countries, citing Palestine, Kashmir, Kosovo, Myanmar, and in the Philippines.

“We feel grateful that in this age, we still live by the tradition of our Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him, that the Muslim Ummah is like a human body; the whole body feels the sickness and pain of its smallest part,” the MILF chief said.

He said the OIC provided inspiration to the Bangsamoro struggle when it took notice in 1975, which then resulted in the Tripoli Agreement a year later, referring to the time of the late Libyan leader Moamar al-Khadaffy, one of the most ardent supporters of the MNLF.

“Moved by our desire for the liberation of our people, we continued the struggle under the banner of the MILF and last year, with the assistance of the OIC as observer in the MILF-GPH Peace Talks and the generous help of OIC member states such as Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Indonesia, we have successfully concluded the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” he said.

Murad said the “CAB recognizes and addresses the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro, including the establishment of the Bangsamoro government in its traditional homeland.”

He said CAB also addressed historical injustices committed against the Bangsamoro who were marginalized because of land dispossession.

The MILF chief appealed to the OIC members to provide financial and other forms of assistance once the proposed Bangsamoro government is realized.

Meanwhile, Parcasio said Misuari continues to call on the OIC to help in the government’s full implementation of the FPA.