From AFP Singapore. Pete
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Thailand has extended emergency rule in its Muslim-majority south for three more months as separatist unrest continues to rage, a senior minister said.
"Emergency rule is still necessary to protect public lives and properties," Chidchai Vanasathidya, deputy prime minister and justice minister, told reporters.
Separatist violence has simmered in the south since Thailand annexed an ethnic Malay sultanate a century ago, and an insurgency that resumed in early 2004 has claimed more than 1,300 lives.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra imposed emergency rule in July 2005 in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, near the border with Malaysia.
The emergency decree must be renewed every three months but the process has become a formality as the violence rages unchecked.
Under emergency rule, authorities can detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge, search and arrest without warrants and tap phones.
The measure also gives security forces broad immunity from prosecution, which human rights groups claim creates a climate of impunity.
Chidchai said authorities were constantly reassessing emergency rule but felt that the law benefited both the people and security officials.
"Officials agreed that emergency rule is needed since the unrest continues unabated," he said Tuesday.
Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee insisted that emergency rule had helped authorities curb the violence, although he said that 100 attacks are still reported every month.
In the last three months, police arrested 604 suspects without warrants under the emergency decree, he said. So far, 472 of them have been linked to attacks and the others remain under investigation, he added.
"Even though authorities have launched an offensive to crack down on militants with the emergency rule, the militants always change their plans and resort to more violence," he said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's critics blame his heavy-handed tactics for escalating the conflict.
The National Reconciliation Commission, which Thaksin appointed in 2005 to recommend ways to end the conflict, last month proposed a variety of non-violent measures to stop the violence.
It recommended broad reforms to provincial government, including greater use of the local Malay language, among other measures.
But the government has backed away from those and other significant proposals.
Instead, Thaksin has granted the army chief, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin "full authority" to bring the region under control.
Emergency rule extended in Thailand's Muslim south
A real shame. Places like Sungai Kolok used to be good fun years ago.
Now, I hear it has the second highest incidents of "political/religious" deaths in the world. We don't hear much about that, do we?
Suppose the only country that can beat it is Iraq.
Maybe kicked into third touch by Lebanon?
It's all going on on our doorstep.
Now, I hear it has the second highest incidents of "political/religious" deaths in the world. We don't hear much about that, do we?
Suppose the only country that can beat it is Iraq.
Maybe kicked into third touch by Lebanon?
It's all going on on our doorstep.