ILOILO CITY, June 3 (IslamOnline.net) - The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is working on a new date for the conference on Mindanao that was postponed after Filipino speakers withdrew their attendance to protest the U.S. expulsion of a prominent Filipino Muslim professor, a USIP official said on Thursday, June 3, adding that the institute deeply regrets this faux pas.

"The Asia Society and USIP agreed the conference would not be as productive or balanced without their presence so [we] decided to postpone the conference until a later date," Eugene Martin, USIP Philippine Facilitation Project executive director, told IslamOnline.net.

"We hope arrangements can be made to reschedule the conference in a few months," he said, adding that the original participants will be able to attend.

The conference, titled "Securing Peace in Mindanao: Resolving the Roots of Conflict" scheduled on May 25 and 26 in New York and in Washington, was postponed after Filipino and Filipino Muslim scholars pulled out their participation. It was organized by the Asia Society and the USIP.

Their withdrawal was triggered by the non-admittance of Professor Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Cotabato City-based Institute of Bangsamoro Studies and chair of the Bangsamoro People’s Consultative Assembly, to the United States by the immigration officials at the Los Angeles airport.

Martin said they have apologized to Lingga. "The Asia Society and USIP have conveyed our sincere regrets to Prof. Lingga for the incident and will do our utmost to prevent such incidents in the future. There was no intent to insult or humiliate Prof. Lingga."

"We the organizers recognize that Prof. Lingga's participation in the conference was vital to bringing the voice of the Filipino Muslim community to the discussion.

"He along with other participants from Mindanao would bring to the table insiders' views of the conflict and possible viable peaceful resolutions of the long conflict," he added.

Among the first to withdraw their attendance was historian and noted lawyer Datu Michael Mastura, president of the Sultan Kudarat Islamic Academy and a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel.

"We may not be similarly situated with Prof. Lingga. However, knowing the current mood in the United States, it is more prudent for a Muslim/Moro not to travel to your country at this point in time," Mastura was quoted by Mindanews as telling the Asia Society in his letter.

"I do not want to spoil the good memories and impressions I have of America in all the years I traveled and gave lectures there," he added.

Mindanews editor Carolyn Arguillas, who was invited to the conference but followed suit, told the organizers that if the conferences proceed without Moro representation, "I think it will be an exercise in futility."

The multi-sectarian group Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao said in a May 19 statement that the denial of Lingga’s entry "warrants a diplomatic protest from the Philippine government for what was a clear proof of Muslim profiling and a clear violation of political and civil rights guarantees enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights."

Beverly Musni, an attorney, said that "while both the USIP and Asia Society have regretted the Lingga faux pas, we are aware that the U.S. is using the double-edged tactic of coercion and diplomacy towards Moro groups."

Lingga left Manila for New York via Los Angeles on May 12 to attend the 3rd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York scheduled on May 10 to 21 but he was able to leave only on May 12 because he was granted a U.S. visa only on May 11.

Detained for several hours, he was later given an option to return home or appeal before immigration authorities. Lingga chose the first option.

The Manila Time reported on May 21 that the U.S. State Department has apologized to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for detaining and later deporting the Muslim leader who was invited to speak before the conference organized by the United Nations in New York.

Lingga’s application for visa was actually denied on April 15, despite his presentation of the invitations from the U.N. Permanent Forum and from the Asia Society, which organized a separate conference on Mindanao with the USIP.

Martin said he invited Lingga when they met in Penang, Malaysia. He told IslamOnline.net: "The conference, which included the participation of Atty. Mastura and others from the Philippines, was to focus on the costs of the conflict, challenges to negotiating peace, and policy options/alternatives to resolving the conflict.

"A wide spectrum of guests was invited to attend the conference in New York and Washington as well as a public forum in San Francisco. The speakers were experts on various aspects of the problem and many in the audience follow events in Mindanao and The Philippines closely. The conference promised to be a valuable educational event for opinion leaders in New York as well as policy makers in Washington."

He added that in light of increased security measures at U.S. ports of entry, the USIP and Asia Society sent invitation letters to the participants from the Philippines to facilitate their visa applications at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

"We thought the arrangements would be sufficient for all the participants to enter the U.S. without difficulty," he said.

"Most unfortunately, Prof. Lingga was denied entry to the U.S. at the Los Angeles airport the evening of May 12. USIP and the State Department tried all day Thursday, May 13, to contact Prof. Lingga, determine what the problem was and to work for his admittance to the U.S.