Pracha set to give compensation details

Pracha said yesterday he would open the floor to questions and opinions on the issue at a forum in Songkhla, where he will announce the precise amount of compensation and rehabilitation money to be paid to people affected either physically or mentally by the violence.

He said his committee would use the same principles as the panel chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit tasked with following up on the proposals of the National Truth for Reconciliation Commission.

If necessary, Pracha said he would put the decision on compensation before the Cabinet. Compensation and rehabilitation money would be awarded at the same time as money was given to people affected by political violence in recent years.

Yongyuth, in charge of the Strategic Committee on Development of the Southern Border Provinces, said that according to guidelines announced by his committee, Bt500,000 would be paid in the event of death, disability or forced disappearance as a result of officials’ conduct. 

The amounts could go as high as Bt7 million, but victims of the Krue Se Mosque and Tak Bai incidents would not automatically be eligible for that as Pracha’s committee was in charge of those cases. They might receive compensation at the same rates but under a new law, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha told reporters that because no link to officials’ conduct had been proven in the case of missing lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, compensation would not be paid in that case.

The Advisory Council for Administration and Development of the Southern Border Provinces yesterday issued a statement calling on the government to take urgent action in response to last week’s shooting in Pattani’s Nong Chik district, as it had had severe psychological effects on local people.

The group was referring to an incident last Sunday in which five people were shot dead by Army rangers who reportedly mistook the villagers for insurgents who had fired three M-79 grenades at a ranger base in the district.

The group said the military must show responsibility without blaming the affected people and must not prejudge events before the investigation is finished. It said the military must take legal action against the officers if they are found to have been at fault. It also called for urgent rehabilitation for those affected and the deployment of officers from the region, as they understand the situation and culture better.