Iqbal: Malaysia gets probe results first

From the Manila Bulletin (Feb 25): Iqbal: Malaysia gets probe results first

The Malaysian government, not the Philippines, will have the first crack at the result of the Mamasapano probe being conducted by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) once it is completed.

This was revealed by MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal citing existing protocol, Malaysia being the third party facilitator in the peace talks between the secessionist group and the Philippine government (GPH).

“There is a protocol, we are still talking…normally the procedure with documents, the exchange of documents, it has to pass through the facilitator. That’s our procedure,” Iqbal told reporters in a chance interview before the start of the Senate Committee on Public Order hearing on the Mamasapano tragedy that martyred 44 Special Action Force commandos who were on a mission to arrest Malaysian terrorist bomb maker Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan and his Filipino understudy Basit Usman.

The MILF probe is about 90 to 95 percent complete, Iqbal told the panel chaired by Senator Grace Poe.

Iqbal said he would not ask for an executive session anymore in revealing the result of the MILF probe. “There is no need for me to ask for an executive session. I’ve disclosed it already in open session.”

The SAF commandos were engaged by joint forces of the MILF and fighters of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as they executed Oplan Exodus to get Marwan amid a frustrating web of miscommunication and lack of coordination that is just clearly coming to light.

The incident has practically derailed the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) in both Houses of Congress – the fruit of the GPH-MILF negotiations that spanned 17 years that is expected to bring peace in Mindanao.

http://www.mb.com.ph/iqbal-malaysia-gets-probe-results-first/