Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday said the ongoing campaign in the deep South, which has resulted in the detention of more than 300 local residents under the controversial Emergency Law, had weakened the insurgents` capabilities.
Speaking on a weekly TV programme on state-run Channel 11 and Radio Thailand, Surayud maintained that state agencies were achieving their objective of winning over the local Malay Muslim villagers.
He said more and more local residents had been cooperating with government officials in providing information on the activities of the militants. He said the government would re-evaluate the situation and strategy on the troubled region in October.
But local residents and officials on the ground said it was too early to declare victory, saying distrust between the Malay-speaking region and the Thai state was too strong and added it might take at least a generation to bridge the divide.
Many local residents, as well as rights groups, have said security forces are involved in killings and illegal abduction, while authorities blame the killings of Muslims on insurgents.
Violence continued yesterday in the restive region with, Hama Samae, 23, gunned down in Narathiwat`s Sungai Kolok district. Gunmen in a pickup truck fired from close range at Hama, who was riding a motorcycle, police said.
In Chanae district, the owner of a petrol station, Makorseng Chehah, 34, was shot three times by a young man who had pulled up to fuel his vehicle.
In a related development, the Royal Thai Army yesterday called on eight Islamic teachers, who absconded after jumping bail in January, to return to court, saying they would get a fair trial. They were arrested in connection with the insurgency.
A source in Malaysia agreed that the teachers, locally known as ustaz, had fled to Malaysia after they were granted bail.
Sources in the government said they had absconded because the police were forcing some or all of them to spy for them in exchange for leniency. They then decided to flee to Malaysia, where a strong network is helpng them obtain asylum in a third country, Thai sources said.
The case was a major embarrassment for a number of senior officials, including the Fourth Army Area commander Lt-General Viroj Buajaroon and director of the multi-agency Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC), Pranai Suwanarat, who had served as the guarantors for the ustaz`s release. "We were hoping to lessen tension between the community and the state agencies," said one official, "but some in the police tried to take advantage of the situation by forcing the teachers to spy for them, which could have led to them being killed by the insurgents," added the official, who declined to be named.
The current generation of militants is said to be strongly influenced by Islamic teachers.
The move by the Army chief and the SBPAC head in lending their names to granting bail for the teachers was aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the Malay Muslim community.
Source: www.nationmultimedia.com (2 Agustus 2007)
