MANILA - A leader of the biggest group of Muslim separatists in the Philippines rejected today Malaysia's appeal to drop demands for a separate Islamic state and instead settle for limited self-rule.

"When the Bangsamoro (Moro nation) revolution was launched in 1968, the demand was independence," Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told AFP by telephone.

While a second Muslim rebel faction, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996 in exchange for autonomy for the minority Muslims, who call themselves Moros, Jaafar said, "the MILF and the rest of the Bangsamoro did not agree to it.

"The MILF was set up because most of the Bangsamoro believes autonomy is not the answer to the problem," he added.

No to all-out assault

Defense Minister Abdul Najib Razak, during a visit to Manila o­n Tuesday, urged the MILF to stop pursuing a separate Islamic state as o­ne of the steps to achieving permanent peace in the southern Philippines.

Malaysia had been hosting peace talks between Manila and the 12,500-strong MILF, which has been fighting for independence in the southern third of the Philippines since 1978.

Najib, speaking at a regional security conference here in Manila o­n Tuesday, said: "The whole idea that they (MILF) can form a separate Islamic state is something that we will not support or condone, and we will try to influence other Islamic countries not to support them in that cause.

"They have to work o­n a peace agreement within the context of the Philippine constitution," he added.

Najib also urged the Philippines not to wage an all-out assault against the MILF, even though there were extremists within that group who should be weeded out.