Southern Violence : Govt advised to withdraw troops
Govt advised to withdraw troops from far South
5/10/2010
The government should withdraw all troops from the three southernmost provinces if it wants to end the problem of southern unrest, chairman of the Confederation of 15 Southern Islamic Committees Kariya Kijjarak said on Tuesday.
His suggestion came as the violence in deep South continued following the appointment of a new commander of Army Region 4 (the South).
Mr Kariya said the southern problem cannot be settled by military force, only by peaceful means.
He made three recommendations;
1) Withdraw all soldiers from far south and allow local people there to govern themselves as a special administrative zone, not an independent state. Self-government would enable them to receive justice under Islamic religious principles.
If the killings continue after troops were pulled out, the government could then declare that people in far South were killing their own brothers and sisters, not the soldiers or police.
2) Rapidly set up a halal food industrial estate in the far South to boost the economy of the southernmost provinces and to create jobs for the local people.
3) Declare Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as cities for Islamic religious and cultural tourism. Foreign tourists could observe Islamic culture in these three provinces, while those who want to witness western culture could visit Songkhla, Phuket or Samui.
Meanwhile, two policemen and a railway official were injured in an explosion at a railway crossing in Songkhla's Chana district on Tuesday morning.
Thanongsak Pongprasert, chief of the southern office of the State Railway of Thailand, said a home-made bomb placed near a kiosk for control of the crossing barriers went off about 9.30am.
Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Uab Kaewkwanphet and Pol Sgt-Maj Kasem Kanchanarat and a railway official were injured by the explosion. They were admitted to Songklanakarin Hospital in Hat Yai.
The railway was closed to traffic to allow police to make a security check of the rail track. The track was re-opened about 11.30am.
bangkokpost.com
