'Thaksin is holding Thailand hostage' : Abhisit
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Political conflicts will persist as long as fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra holds the country hostage to cover up his conviction and sentencing, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
“The strength of the society is being challenged as to whether it should bow for the sake of one man,” he said.
Abhisit went on to say that Thaksin was the root cause of all political problems because society had to sustain collateral damage stemming from efforts to solve Thaksin’s legal wrangling.
In a rebuttal to Thaksin’s com-ment that some were benefiting from blocking reconciliation efforts, Abhisit said it was only people close to the former PM who could benefit from ongoing conflict. He reminded government leaders, especially Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, that reconciliation could not be forged by a majority vote.
“I suspect the government is using reconciliation as a pretext to grant amnesty,” he said, adding that Thaksin would stand to gain from hasty moves for amnesty, while the red shirts would still be in the dark about the 2010 bloodshed.
Abhisit added that though Thaksin continued to deny that he had anything to do with the conflicts, people should remember that problems erupted because of the former PM’s regime.
