Basilan Catholics get threats to convert

BASILAN — Fear and panic has descended among Catholics here following fresh threats by a group claiming to be mujahidins (Islamic warriors), a bishop said.

Bishop Martin Jumoad disclosed that he and other Catholic residents received letters on Friday afternoon from the group telling them to either convert, pay up or ship out.

“This is a painful letter being addressed to the Catholic faithful of basilan. It is okay to be poor and I could endure having no food for a day or two but to receive threat such as this is miserable because this is something psychological to spend sleepless night due to threats would be more dangerous than to have no food and to be poor," Jumoad said.

In the letter, which was written in Filipino and read on radio by the bishop, the purported mujahidins said they follow no law except the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book.

The letter stated that Basilan is a Muslim land and in compliance with a supposed injunction of the Qur’an, the group is going to convert every non-Muslim residing in the province:

“The Qur’an’s instructions is that if there are Christians leaving in a place for Muslims, they have to be converted to Islam. If they don’t want to convert to Islam, they have to pay the Islamic tax. If they refuse to pay, they can be subjected to violence.”

The letter then asked the recipients to choose among the three, with the threat that they will never be safe if they resist.

The recipients were reminded that the mujahidins could penetrate even the heavily secured cities such as Manila, Davao, General Santos or Zamboanga City.

Recipients of the letter were given 15 days to respond, and that non-response would be considered a hostile response.

They were instructed to coordinate with someone named Paruji Indama nur Hassan J. Kallitut.

Jumoad said he contacted Nur Hassan by mobile phone and that the person who responded confirmed that they were Islamic warriors.

INUTILE POLICE
Jumoad said what is more frustrating is that he reported the threats to the police and military and Basilan and nobody seemed to be interested in taking action.

“I even told ‘yung provincial director walang silbi (inutile). The provincial director should be replaced immediately, because maraming kalokohan, even the city police, maraming kalokohan, I do not know. Ewan ko sa kanila," the bishop said during the interview.

He claimed that the provincial police chief himself reasoned out that he himself is afraid and “could not go to the place … where the lawless elements are."

“I am so frustrated because the atmosphere of the threat, consistently, parang (it’s like) we are back in 1998, there will yung kaguluhan ba (lawlessness). Even I, sabi ko (I said) what are we going to do now? We hope the military and police will work hard to maintain the peace and order sa amin. This is police matter."

He said many Catholic faithful are sending him messages by SMS (texting) and are saying they are disoriented./PN