Manila: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has put up a tribunal that will deal with infractions committed by members of its military arm, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
The court, according to an article posted in the MILF's luwaran.com site, will be distinct from the front's Shariah tribunal and will specifically put on trial MILF combatants who will violate the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces' (BMIAF) organisational discipline.
The MILF Central Committee had organised the formation of the court in a resolution adopted last month.
The body will be composed of five members with two top levels MILF military commanders designated as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. The chair will come from Lanao del Sur, the vice chairman from Maguindanao, and another member from Western Mindanao.
The formation of the tribunal came in the wake of reports over the seeming break down of organisational discipline among members of the separatist group.
There had been incidents in the past that combatants of MILF's specific "base commands" had clashed with each other over land disputes.
These hostilities are often bloody and cost the loss of several lives and had often led to the displacement of residents.
Among the latest of such incidents was the one that took place last August in the village of New Liong in Datu Piang town, Maguindanao.
Four MILF members died while seven others were injured when combatants under the MILF's 106th and 104th Base Commands, under Commanders Adzmie and Abunawas, respectively, figured in a clash.
The fighting led to the displacement of some 3,500 residents from their homes and farms.
Three tracks
Presently, the MILF has three tracks in solving internal conflicts. These are through a reconciliation committee; the Shariah courts; and through the newly formed military court.
"Cases involving discipline are usually handled by the reconciliation committee, and decision ranges from outright punishment to educating the erring MILF members.
"One of the most common causes of these disciplinary problems is the low ideological, political, and organisational consciousness of both political and military workers of the MILF," the MILF said.
According to the group, there are a number of its members who joined the Front not out of conviction but because their fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters died from government operations against the MILF.
Lack of organisational discipline among members of the MILF have also been blamed in the past for mis-encounters with government forces during periods of ceasefire.
