Iqbal on decommissioningand Emotional, sensitive, difficult but doable

COTABATO CITY -One of the
Annexes of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law that the national government and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the decommissioning process which the
MILF chief negotiator said one of the hardest parts of peace process.

This is a
very sentimental and emotional thing for the MILF but we are ready if only to
attain our long desired peace,” Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, told reporterssaid
after the launching of the GPH-MILF transitional justice and reconciliation
commission in Cotabato City.

Firearms had
been with the Moro fighters since they started fighting for self-determination
and we are talking here of several decades,” he added.

However, Iqbal
quickly added that this process is not about surrendering of MILF firearms to
the government.

Far from
that,” he said. This is about putting
our fighters’ guns to the care of a body under the supervision of
representatives from Turkey, Brunei and Norway,” he said.

The
decommissioning of a first batch of firearms expected before the end of 2014.

In a recent
meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the GPH and MILF peace panels have chosen three
foreign experts from Brunei, Turkey and Norway who will joint four local
experts to oversee the decommissioning process.

In separate
statement, GPH peace panel chair Prof. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer admitted the
process indeed was difficult.

Decommissioning
is a delicate and difficult component of any peace settlement. It must be done
effectively and sensitively, she said.

Iqbal did not
say how many firearms the MILF has to date.

But the MILF
editorial said about 75 assorted firearms of the MILF’s total firepower,
including high-powered guns, would be stored in a locked warehouse as part of
the normalization process.

It is really
difficult and emotional but we have to do this ultimate sacrifice for the sake
of peace,” he said.

The MILF,
according to a source privy to the peace process, had already submitted a list
of MILF firearms to be placed in a safe box.” Iqbal did not answer questions
on MILF firepower.

Military
intelligence agents in Mindanao have placed the MILF armed members to about
10,000.

According to
Iqbal, the decommission process is a long and tedious one. We will do it
definitely but slowly and depending on the progress of the implementation of
the peace accord,” he said.

In its website editorial, said the MILF said the issue of decommissioning was one of the most
misunderstood or misconstrued aspects of the whole process.

It said
decommissioning was confused with surrender of firearms to government and its
destruction, like the Aceh peace process in Indonesia.

The MILF
editorial explained in the case of GPH-MILF peace process, decommissioning is a
formula that balances the principled stance of the MILF that any tint or
semblance of surrender is not only politically wrong but more seriously an act
of disobedience to Allah and that only duly constituted government or state has
the sole legitimacy to hold or control the guns.

Who are
in need of guns in the Bangsamoro when everything normalizes? is an
oft-repeated statement of MILF leaders, the editorial said.

It also said
the Northern Ireland and Nepal models will be followed whereby firearms turned
over are put in warehouses under the care and protection of third party
decommissioning body composed of international and domestic eminent persons.

In accepting
decommissioning, the editorial said, the MILF is staking itself to the scrutiny
of time and history and the vicious attacks of critics to prove that this is
the right track to solve this question of problem.