MILF won't confirm IMT pullout in three months

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will not confirm reported plan of Malaysia to pull out its contingent in Mindanao monitoring the GRP-MILF ceasefire if there is no significant progress in the peace talks between Manila and the MILF within this period.

Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said that whether such statement was ever made by the facilitator during the recent Q&A session in Kuala Lumpur last September 25-26 is not the real thing.

"The thing," he said, "is proceeding of the meeting done in executive session will not and cannot be divulged by any of the Parties to the talks."

"Who leaked this issue or made this statement is something very serious and must be looked into by the Parties to the talks," he stressed.

However, he said that the prerogative to stay or pullout even before the one-year extension period made by the GRP and MILF peace panels last August 27, 2007 still rests with the contributing countries.

Both the Newsbreak and Reuters carried the same storyline about the impending IMT pullout in three months.