[Gulf Today] In Malaysia the head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front warned that Daesh extremists have been exploiting people's "frustrations" in order to establish a foothold in Mindanao.MILF chairman Ebrahim Murad said the frustrations come about from the failure of the Philippine Congress to pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). He said, "Now after the non-passage of the bill, we are quite concerned that they (Daesh) can capitalize on this because the sentiment of the people in the area is now very strong."
Murad reiterated the MILF was determined to pursue the path of peace in line with the agreement it signed with the government that led to the crafting of the proposed BBL by a special panel set up by President Aquino.
Murad said, "We cannot completely abandon armed struggle but we always believe we have to give supremacy, primacy to the peace process because we believe solution to the problem is still political. As long as the peace process has a chance to move forward, then we don’t want to revert to violence again."