MILF warns Muslims against extremism

From the Manila Bulletin (Aug 27): MILF warns Muslims against extremism

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has warned the Muslim world against the resurgence of religious extremism, even as it likened it to “virus” that contaminates peace and social order.

The MILF expressed the warning after former President Fidel V. Ramos had revealed that some 100 members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for training and will return back home to wage destruction.

“The MILF has no verified report about it (Ramos’ claim). In our view, there is more loss than gain for the two groups in joining the ISIS,” the MILF said in its official Web site Luwaran.

“For us, the threat is not in the two groups’ joining the ISIS. Their number is too tiny to be felt and make a difference. The ISIS is overflowing with volunteers from all over the world, including those from the United States, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia,” the MILF added.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has corroborated Ramos’ revelation, saying the jihadists have started recruiting Muslim Filipinos from his turf since July, and he is not condemning it but hoping that they would “fight for religious principle and not hatred.”

In its statement, the MILF said, “the threat really comes from the extremism espoused by the ISIS. Ideas are contagious and infectious. Wild ideas are attractive to those who want adventures… pre-occupied with hatred and revenge.”

The MILF took the opportunity to underscore the need for the immediate creation of the Bangasamo geo-political entity in lieu of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as a robust community to weed out the seeds of religious extremism.

http://www.mb.com.ph/milf-warns-muslims-against-extremism/