MILF rebs to get pardon

From the Manila Standard Today (Feb 1): MILF rebs to get pardon

THE government admitted on Saturday that the agreement it signed with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday includes a pardon and amnesty provision that may include guerillas who were behind the killing of 44 police commandos who were out to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir.

Trouble predicted. Peace negotiators Mohagher Iqbal (left) of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government’s Miriam
Coronel-Ferrer (right) sit beside Malaysian intermediary Tengku
Razaleigh as they answer questions about the arms decommissioning
pact they signed in Kuala Lumpur oon Friday. AFP

“Amnesty and pardon has always been part of reconciliation,” chief government peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer when asked about the amnesty and pardon provision in the agreement on decommissioning of arms.

But Ferrer maintained that the amnesty provision has “parameters” and “even though you grant amnesty, we know under international humanitarian law, there’s exceptions.”

“We’re still discussing parameters... Such will depend on the case,” she added.

MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal also could not directly answer when asked if the weapons involved in the Mamasapano incident will also be covered by the decommissioning protocol.

“First, we have to wait for results of probe. After evaluating, perhaps we can move forward. This is a special case. I don’t think we can now factor in weapons allegedly captured,” Iqbal said, stressing however that the MILF is not opposed to the idea of turning over weapons in the Mamasapano incident.

He declined to say how many combatants and weapons were involved, but insisted the MILF is not coddling Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, and his Filipino protege Basit Usman, who were the targets of the police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Iqbal said the two terrorists were being kept by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and not the MILF.

“The truth will show that we have not been coddling Marwan. Marwan was in the company of the BIFF, not the MILF,” Iqbal said. “You cannot turn something which is not in your possession.”

Both Ferrer and Iqbal, in a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, issued a joint plea for the country to stick to a historic peace accord that is now in peril after a deadly clash spurred calls for retribution against the guerrillas.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/02/01/milf-rebs-to-get-pardon/