Sources: Iqbal is Lubis Abas

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal was allegedly known as Lubis Abas before he joined the first batch of 300 guerrillas of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that underwent military training in Pakistan in 1969, according to sources.

Iqbal, born in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, was reportedly among the original MNLF guerrillas given their nomes de guerre during training in Pakistan.

A source said the assumed name of Iqbal might have been inspired

by Muhammad Iqbal, a Pakistani philosopher, poet and politician in the then British-occupied states of India and Pakistan.

According to Wikipedia, Muhammad Iqbal is a Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times and named by the Pakistani government as a national poet.

In 1922, British King George V knighted the Pakistani as Poet of the East. While studying law and philosophy in England , Muhammad Iqbal became a member of the London branch of the All India Muslim League . Iqbal pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in Northwest India.

MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza confirmed that Iqbal was a former MNLF member who joined the late Hashim Salamat in defecting from the mainstream rebel group after MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari agreed to hold peace negotiations with the government.

Cerveza said that he does not know the real identity of MILF negotiator Iqbal because during his stint in the MNLF he was not yet a famous guerrilla leader.

Iqbal also uses the pen name Salah Jubair, author of the book “Long Road to Peace: Inside the GRP-MILF peace process.”

Cerveza said Iqbal was not a prominent figure in the MNLF and even Misuari does not know him personally.

“He rose from ranks when he joined the MILF,” he said.

A check with Facebook and Twitter (@abbasThenineTail) revealed the accounts of a certain Lubis Abas were protected. Another Twitter account Abas Lubis@

Odiciibandit posted a photo with the caption, “Part your heavens, Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, so that they smoke, Send forth lightning and scatter.”