24.06.09 PM takes more active role in troubled South
Source: Bangkok Post
Interior stripped of SBPAC responsibility
The Southern Border Provinces Administration
Centre will soon come under the direct supervision of the Internal
Security Operations Command.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said the SBPAC would
answer directly to him as Isoc head once formalities involving the
shift of power from the Interior Ministry were complete.
The centre, made up of state officials and military personnel, has
come under heavy criticism in recent months for its failure to end the
violence and bring peace to the troubled southern region.
The SBPAC was dissolved by the Thaksin Shinawatra government but
later resurrected by the Surayud Chulanont administration after the
insurgency showed no sign of abating.
The centre currently answers to the Interior Ministry but recent security flare-ups prompted a rethink.
Mr Abhisit said the changes were being made so closer attention
could be paid to the SBPAC's activities and how to turn it into a more
effective body.
The prime minister is the agency's supervisor in name, but the army is in real control of Isoc, a source said.
Nimu Makajey, a former deputy leader of Yala's Islamic provincial
committee, yesterday demanded to know why the army had sent companies
of special warfare troops to reinforce border areas in the South.
He said the "special warfare units" were making local people uneasy.
Army chief Anupong Paojinda reportedly sent the units to Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat for a tour of duty from June 18 to 30.
"There should be no problem if the aim of the reinforcements is to
strengthen the work to ensure public security. What we want is a
convincing explanation," Mr Nimu said.
The senior Islamic scholar also said it was too early to conclude
that the massacre at al-Furqan mosque on June 8 in Narathiwat was not
the work of the security forces.
In Yala, Raman district police yesterday said their investigation
into the killing of a 55-year-old woman teacher at Ban Pomaeng school
on June 16 had found that Zumzuri Panah, leader of the RKK insurgency
group, was probably behind the attack.
They said they would issue an arrest warrant soon.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of
national security, yesterday dismissed media reports that a religious
war was possible after eight Buddhists were wounded in an attack on a
temple in Narathiwat on Monday.
Meanwhile, the cabinet has allocated a special budget for monks to
buy food in the far South. Many Buddhist monks have found it dangerous
to collect alms after a monk was gunned down and another injured in
Yala.
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