Maguindanao exec calls for immediate resolution of Marawi crisis

MAGUINDANAO --- Local officials in Maguindanao on Wednesday called for an immediate solution to the on-going strife in Marawi City, apprehensive of a possible spill over to other areas.Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, presiding chairman of the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council, said what he is most worried about is the safety of innocent villagers in Marawi City, now fleeing from their homes.Mangudadatu said the provincial security council, whose members include top military and police officials in the province, sympathizes with residents of Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur.Lanao del Sur, a hotbed of fanatical Islamic militancy, is a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). We condemn these attacks by extremists. We share with the pain being felt now by the people in Marawi City, Mangudadatu said on Wednesday morning.Mangudadatu, however, said efforts to address the security problems besetting Marawi City must not focus on military and police actions alone. The siege of Marawi City is an eye opener, something that tells us we need to work harder in propagating culture of peace among our constituents through academic interventions, Mangudadatu said.He said clerics in the barrios need to be tapped too in addressing religious extremism now spreading in the adjoining Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces. Education is one of the best solutions to fanatical, misguided Islamic militancy, Mangudadatu said.He said extremism is a misnomer in Islam, something never espoused by Mohammad, the founder of the religion. Nowhere in the Qur’an can we find even a single verse saying we should hate non-Muslims. Everything in Islam is about diplomacy, harmony with people having different faiths, tolerance and piety, Mangudadatu said.Mangudadatu, now in his third and last term as Maguindanao provincial governor, said Islam has strong teachings on interfaith solidarity based on a principle la iqra fidin, which literally means there is no compulsion in religion.