Nur’s UN liaison man hit for ‘hailing’ US terrorists

COTABATO CITY — Members of the Islamic community in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) urged Malacañang yesterday to impose sanctions on the Nur Misuari-led faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) for allowing its liaison to the United Nations to praise in public the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States.

Lawyer Ely Pamatong, representative of outgoing ARMM Gov. Misuari to the UN, did not allegedly just praise the terrorists during a recent gathering of about a thousand MNLF members in Sulu, but also called on the governor’s remaining supporters to "follow the example" of those he called the "19 heroes from the world of Islam."

Muslim preachers in Central Mindanao said Pamatong’s statements, which they believe Misuari had condoned, dealt a serious blow to their efforts to show that Islamic communities in the South are peace-loving and God-fearing and reject the use of violence in seeking redress.

Sulu officials alleged that Pamatong encouraged participants to the two-day 5th Bangsamoro People’s Congress, which Misuari convened in Parang town, to emulate the courage of the 19 US terrorists in furthering their struggle for Muslim rule in southern Philippines.

"Our religion detests bad examples. It encourages us to reject violence as a means of achieving political objectives. What will the United Nations now say of us? President Arroyo should do something about this undue development," said Ustadz Moctar Abdulmuin, a foreign-trained Islamic theologian.

A Maranaw preacher in Marawi City, who requested anonymity, said the UN should also impose sanctions on the MNLF’s Misuari faction for Pamatong’s adulation of the terrorists in Misuari’s presence.

Since 1997, the UN, through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has been helping develop, along with dozens of foreign donors, impoverished Muslim communities covered by the Sept. 2, 1996 peace accord between the government and the MNLF.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of the international funding entities which have extended huge grants for various socio-economic projects to far-flung villages where MNLF members are scattered.

Misuari’s information director could not be reached for comment. His office observed a non-working Muslim holiday yesterday.

Sources from Misuari’s office confirmed that Pamatong, indeed, "lauded" the terrorists responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Pamatong reportedly bragged about his efforts for a possible UN grant of observer status to the MNLF’s Misuari-led faction.

A senior Tausog career staffer of the ARMM government said Misuari should apologize to the UN for Pamatong’s actuation.

The other MNLF faction is led by the Council of 15 which removed Misuari as chairman last April due to loss of trust and confidence in his leadership.

One of the council’s members is Parouk Hussin, the Arroyo administration’s candidate for governor in the ARMM’s Nov. 26 polls.