Misuari ‘to visit’ MNLF camps in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao
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By Edd K. Usman in Manila Bulletin
Embattled Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding Chairman Nur P. Misuari “is inclined to visit” the MNLF camps in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao.
The source, who asked for anonymity, yesterday said the Moro leader, who is wanted by the government for the Zamboanga City siege in September 2013, was at the MNLF’s Cloud 9 Camp in Sumisip, Basilan, when they celebrated on August 12 the first anniversary of his declaration of independence of Mindanao, Palawan, and Sabah.
In his supposed trip to Sumisip, which could not be independently verified, MNLF leaders such as Ustadhz Murshi Ibrahim, secretary general, Information Chairman O.S. Malik, and others, accompanied Misuari, the source said.
The source claimed that it was Commander Khabier Malik who led the celebration in Panamao, Sulu.
Misuari declared independence in Barangay Lampaya, Talipao, Sulu, last year as the MNLF virtually broke off from the peace process with the government after the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) on October 15, 2012, and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) last March 27.
Misuari’s group and some other senior MNLF leaders asserted that the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signing of the FAB and the CAB “abrogated” the 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA), thus his independence declaration.
Earlier, the government challenged the MNLF founding leader to face his case in Zamboanga City.
Whether his inclination to get out of his hiding place in Sulu and go to Camp Jabal Nur in Malabang, Lanao del Sur, and MQ Camp in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, is a reply to the government, the source, however, did not provide an explanation.
On August 12, Misuari was reported on www.mnlfnet.com to have attended the celebration of the declaration of independence.
The source said the MNLF leader led the celebration, but he instead joined the event in Sumisip, a long, hard sea travel from Sulu.
He said if Misuari could visit the two MNLF camps, he would then travel back to Sulu for the BT Camp “and finally to (his) hidden safehouse that cannot be divulged for security reason.”
Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, along with Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Marawi and Lamitan are parts of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.