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» 14.06.09 Thai PM: Govt won't negotiate with South insurgents |
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14.06.09 Thai PM: Govt won't negotiate with South insurgents
Source: TNA
BANGKOK, June 14 (TNA) -- With deadly violence rocking Thailand’s three
deep southern provinces -- Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – on an almost
basis, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reasserted Sunday that his
government would not negotiate with insurgents operating in the
troubled region.
Speaking on his weekly television programme,
Mr. Abhisit said it is not possible to negotiate with the insurgents
because the violence is considered Thailand’s “domestic problem and
what the opposition wants is ‘negotiations’ so that two, three, four or
five foreign countries could be invited to help solve the crisis or
otherwise raise it to an the international level”.
“That’s not this government’s policy,” the prime minister emphasised again.
Referring
to the June 8 massacre at Al-Furqan mosque Narathiwat’s Cho Ai Rong
district when anout 10 innocent men died and 12 were wounded when six
unidentified gunmen fired on a crowd of worshippers as they were at
evening prayers, Mr. Abhisit said the assailants must be apprehended
and punished in order to build confidence among the public.
Is
the unrest “just normal in Thai society”? The prime minister said he
worried that younger generations might think that the extended
violence—such as bombings and beheadings—are normal. Will it impact on
larger society? The unrest must be monitored would have any impact on
the country’s new generations as they might think that the unrest is
“just normal in the Thai society.”
More than 3,500 people have died since early 2004 after renewed violence erupted in the deep South.
Urging
people in the troubled region to be patient, Mr. Abhisit said he would
closely watch whether state officials were involved in instigating
unrest as suspected by a number of critics.
However, it is not the government’s policy or direction to suppress the unrest through violent means, he said.
Asked
whether it would be appropriate to operate a special administrative
system in the restive South, Mr. Abhisit said the term could create
“confusion as everything must fall under the Thai constitution.”
If the region is to be administered like Bangkok or Pattaya then it could be acceptable, he added. (TNA)
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