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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai students protest military questioning of Muslim teacher |
| 2013-04-25 |
| Fragile relations between the Thai army and Muslims in the far South showed again after a female teacher suspected of a possible connection with a bombing was taken in for questioning by security officers. The Federation of the Students in the Border Southern Provinces (Perman) organised a protest by about 300 students at the central mosque in Muang district of Yala on Wednesday, and sent representatives to meet with officers of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) at their forward command post. They delivered a letter demanding an explanation for the detention and questioning of teacher Padilah Sorman. Some members of the delegation demanded her immediate release. Mrs Padilah, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher teacher in Pattani province, was taken from her class on April 16 for questioning at a base by paramilitary rangers. A security officer said the teacher was suspected of having information about the Jan 22 bombing of security officers guarding teachers in Khok Pho district. He said her mobile telephone number was the one used to detonate the explosive. The student protesters called it the lastest example of threats to teachers in the South. The signs at their rally in Yala urged officials to end suspicions of their teachers. One of the banners said: "Kindergarten teachers are not insurgents". The conflict between the students and army happened as the National Security Council prepared for a second round of peace talks with the Barison Revolusi Nasional (BRN) in Malaysia on Monday. |
| Posted by:ryuge |