Muslim soldiers killed in Marawi hostilities lauded for heroism

LANAO DEL SUR --- Officials on Monday honored the Muslim soldiers killed in fighting cultists whose religious adventurism in Marawi City has put to test the solidarity of local Islamic and Christian groups.Local officials told reporters on Monday they are optimistic that normalcy will soon return in the troubled Marawi City and that displaced folk, meantime, have to be patient and cooperative in restoring government control over the besieged barangays there.Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra undauntedly led a flag-raising rite, in commemoration of the 119thPhilippine Independence Day, inside the city hall compound on Monday.Gunshots and explosions in nearby areas could be heard within the vicinity of the city hall as the program which Gandamra spearheaded went on.Elected officials in Lanao del Sur on Monday lauded what was for them martyrdom of true Muslims, Sgt. Ashai Sakiran, Sgt. Cassidy Uday, Cpl. Tahirudin Salahudin, Cpl. Alyasir Abdullah and Pvt. Saed Abdulrahman Padada, who, along with more than 50 other Christian military personnel, perished in the raging strife in Marawi City. We are grateful to these martyred Muslim soldiers. Those killed on the side of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf cannot be called martyrs. They are nothing but pagan trouble makers, a town official said Monday.Education officials in Marawi City said they felt so honored with the sacrifice of the slain Muslim soldiers, killed in one encounter after another with marauding terrorists claiming allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.The Darul Iftah (House of Opinions) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, comprised of moderate clerics from across ARMM, had earlier branded as haram the activities of the Maute and the Abu Sayyaf, now group together as the Dawlah Islamiya.Haram means forbidden in Arabic, a generic tag for practices that are not permitted in Islam and for anything Muslims cannot eat or drink like pork and liquor.Lt Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Saturday that the Muslim soldiers killed in action died honorably defending Muslims whose lives were under threat for refusing to support the Dawlah Islamiya. Their deaths were very meaningful to their fellow Muslims in Marawi City, Galvez said.The Dawlah Islamiya operates in the fashion ISIS and is using the black Islamic State flag as its banner.It espouses persecution of Christians and moderate Muslims.The founders of the Dawlah Islamiya, siblings Abdullah and Omar Maute, are known for their practice of slandering moderate clerics in public, calling them munafiq (hypocrites) for refusing to adhere to their extreme interpretation of teachings in the Qur’an.Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, ARMM’s police director, said while they are saddened with the deaths of several policemen as a consequence of the conflict in Marawi City, they are proud of their having exemplified perfect commitment to public service.One of the policemen killed by terrorists in Marawi City is PO1 Junaid Mama, a moderate Sunni Muslim.Calls for Muslim-Christian unity in the wake of the now 21-day hostilities in Marawi City reverberated through venues of Monday's Philippine Independence Day celebration in different parts of central Mindanao and ARMM.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, chairman of the regional peace and order council, reiterated on Monday his condemnation of the trouble in Marawi City that Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists provoked. We have to take a stand, unite and defend our communities from groups like these, known for circumventing the principles of Islam to suit their vested interests, Hataman said.