Cohesive efforts vs religious extremism urged

From the Manila Bulletin (Dec 4): Cohesive efforts vs religious extremism urged

It’s like a venomous serpent let loose in communities of “indifferent” local authorities.

This was how the government intelligence community described religious extremism, particularly its growth from covert inception to its open propagation nowadays in some parts of Mindanao.

Religious extremism has many facets, one of which is the aspect of jihadist ideology espoused by a “misguided” sect among the world’s estimated two billion Muslims, according to experts.

Jihadist dogma teaching has surfaced in the advent of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) led by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, a self-proclaimed Caliph trying to replicate caliphate governance exemplified by caliphs Abubakr, Omar, Usman and Ali, who were anointed by Prophet Mohammad.

ISIS ideologues intensified their campaign at the height this year of the widely-condemned attacks of Israeli forces against Palestinian Muslims including women and children, gaining sympathy from other parts of the world, especially among militant groups.

The ISIS leadership draws support from the notorious Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) of Sulu archipelago, the defiant Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Central Mindanao, and Lanao region’s Black Flag-waving militants of the Khilaffa Islamiya Movement (KIM), locally known as Ghuraba.

The outlawed Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), some members of which were behind the bloody Makati City bombing on Valentine’s Day of 2005, pledged allegiance to the ISIS leadership.

Last September, former President Fidel Ramos and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte disclosed the “recruitment” of some 100 youngsters in Mindanao to train and fight with ISIS forces.

Other government officials, mostly elected leaders in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) refuted the revelations, downplaying the possibility of foreigners to recruit from among young residents in the south.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said there was no confirmed “recruitment” by the ISIS in Mindanao, admitting that local groups such as the ASG, BIFF and the like have been espousing extremism similar to that of Al-Baghdadi’s advocacy.

But sources from the government police intelligence community and moderate Muslim clerics in ARMM asserted that local ISIS supporters have been recruiting members either as combatants or propagators of jihadist ideology in some parts of Mindanao including the ARMM areas.

A police intelligence official said the Ghuraba group has recruited some 50 young militants for covert combat training in the jungles of Tagoloan in Lanao region late last month to “beef up” its existing core of 20 combatants.

Citing reports from residents privy to jihadist ideology, the official said the Lanao-based Ghuraba is backed by a few Arabic school operators in promoting calls for the establishment of militant Islamic state resembling the ISIS.

http://www.mb.com.ph/cohesive-efforts-vs-religious-extremism-urged/