Peace Agreement between MILF and Philippine Government

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has a history of 40-years struggle which has casted about 120,000 lives has brought a peaceful agreement after a long negotiation. According to which an autonomous region will be set up in the south Philippine where Muslims are in majority keeping in mind that Philippine is a Catholic-Country. The agreement was announced on Oct. 15, 2012 in Manila after a long talks held in Malaysia between MILF and the Government. The key points can be summarized as:

v  Providing Guarantee for democratic and human rights

v  Pledging development and fair sharing of natural wealth

v  Expansion of Sharia courts for Muslim residents

v  Creating new, larger autonomous region

v  Gradual decommissioning of MILF forces

The above mentioned agreement provides ground for the creation of a "Transition Commission" tasked with drafting a law to implement the framework deal. Both the sides know that there is a huge pressure to get this agreement in a right way. As we know that in 2008 the deal was about to be agreed upon and  signed when Local Christian groups complained they had not been fully consulted and for this reason the Supreme Court blocked the agreement and after few weeks conflict was resumed and as a consequence hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced to flee their homes.To avoid such eruption this time widespread consultations and a public vote have been built into the process, in the hope that finally a lasting peace can be reached