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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand deploying 1,000 troops to southern provinces |
| 2004-02-02 |
| The government over the weekend stepped up security and mulled new efforts at public dialogue in the troubled southern provinces. Bracing itself for a vulnerable period when thousands of people cross the Thailand-Malaysia border for family gatherings on the completion of the haj pilgrimage, the military added a further 1,000 troops to its deployment in the region. Three Buddhist monks were killed last week, triggering fears of a return to separatist violence. In the latest flare-up, a Thai border patrol policeman was killed before dawn yesterday when unknown assailants slit his throat as he guarded a police academy in the violence-torn south, police officials said. The brutal attack marked the fifth killing of a policeman since a spate of attacks erupted in the Muslim-majority south early last month, which had also left several soldiers and the Buddhist monks murdered. Across the country, however, analysts, academics and local leaders called for sensitivity in dealing with issues in the Muslim-majority provinces. Some believed international groups could have aided the perpetrators of the violence. Leading security analyst Panitan Wattanayagorn had said that the violence was quite unusual in the level of planning, operation and effectiveness. While it was unclear who were behind the recent attacks, Mr Panitan and some other commentators believed that the Thai gangs could be taking lessons from the regional Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, which has been linked to the Al-Qaeda. But Mr James Kelly, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told the The Straits Times on Friday that the United States had not seen any direct evidence of links with international terrorists. ’I’m not saying they don’t exist, they might, but I haven’t seen any,’ said Mr Kelly, who was in Bangkok for the 17th US-Asean security dialogue. Meanwhile, local Muslim leaders had presented a five-point proposal to the government aimed at curbing violence and restoring confidence, and there were indications the government might take some of them up. Among the proposals were calls for the state to respect the opinions of local people without prejudice, and to be more transparent and informative using media outlets to promote community relations. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to visit the south within a fortnight to meet local leaders and officials and discuss the plan. Most officials were certain rebuilding confidence could take a long time. Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura said on Thursday that bringing normalcy to the south ’will take time but I don’t know how long’. ’It doesn’t matter. We spent about 20 years fighting the communists, now we are in a similar situation,’ he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |