source: LUWARAN

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed concerns over the human rights protection of National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant, Jose Maris Sison, who was arrested by Dutch authorities last August 28 on the strength of cases filed by the widows of rival leaders in the communist movement, Arturo Tabara and NPA commander Romulo Kintanar, who were gunned down in recent years by alleged NPA hit squads. Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF Committee on Information, told Luwaran that the MILF appeals to the government of the Netherlands to ensure that all the human rights of Sison be extended to him including the right to communication with his family and friends while he is in being held.

He said Sison is an international figure and is starting to be viewed as the next in line to succeed Cuba’s Fidel Castro in the communist world.

He also said the arrest will showcase how Dutch government, which had been a colonial power especially during the height of the Spice trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, behaves in the 21st century related to human rights.

Tabara was gunned down in Quezon City in September 2004, while Kintanar was assassinated in January 2003.

Both men had pushed for the re-thinking of the Maoist strategy of seizing power by encircling the cities from the countryside.

They also questioned the hardline stance of the NDF of purely armed struggle as the only path to the liberation of the people, saying negotiation with the government can be a venue towards helping liberate the people.

However, Musa stressed that the MILF adopts a strictly neutral policy in the internal differences between the mainstream NDF and the rejectionist group represented by former Tabara.

 “This is internal to them and we never interfere,” he stressed.