Video conference with govt, Democrats to discuss southern insurgency
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A video conference between opposition Democrat Party and senior security officials will be held to share opinions on violence in
Chalerm was speaking following Tuesday’s meeting between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her cabinet members with the opposition and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and Democrat party MPs for the southern border provinces to resolve the long-standing problem in the ethnic Malay, Muslim-majority South, especially in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani.
The deputy premier that an additional 4,500 police have been deployed in the restive region and that he would invite Democrat deputy leader Thavorn Senneam and Gen Sondhi Boonyaratglin, former deputy premier and ex-army chief, to join the teleconference with local officials, residents and religious leaders.
Chalerm added that the Democrats' proposal was in the same direction as that of the National Security Council, while reaffirming that the newly set up Operation Centre on Solutions to Problems in Three Southern Provinces will not duplicate the work of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC), as feared by the opposition.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Yuthasak Sasiprapa reaffirmed the government is willing to hear the nine-point proposal of the Democrats as both share some similar ideas.
Prime Minister Yingluck heeds Abhisit's recommendations and is willing to improve the government's performance to tackle unrest in deep South, said Gen Yuthasak, adding that the premier wants to raise the southern unrest issue as a national agenda, which needs participation from all parties.
Gen Yuthasak said a similar meeting between the government and the opposition would be held again if there were any “secret agenda” which required discussions between political parties, while development issues would be discussed by concerned MPs.
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Bomb successfully defused in Yala
A bomb squad successfully defused a five-kilogramme bomb found in a litter bin in Yala’s provincial early Wednesday morning, police said.
A patrol unit found the suspicious object left in a plastic box while on foot patrol at Tuboh intersection in Sateng Nok subdistrict. They alerted the police bomb squad, who responded to the scene.
The bomb squad cut all telecommunication signals before defusing the bomb, so that the bomb would not be set off by cellphone or radio signals.
Police investigators believed the bomb was intended to kill army rangers from the 43rd Rangers Regiment who usually manned a checkpoint to monitor suspicious vehicles at the intersection.
