Prayuth to rebels: show your faces
Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha yesterday called on the masterminds of the southern violence, who have never claimed responsibility, to come out of the shadows.
“If they want to talk to the authorities, they have to identify themselves,” the general said.
There were many circles of insurgent leaders who do not live in Thailand but instead hide out in many foreign countries, he said.
“They freely give orders for violent incidents to be staged as much as possible. More and more innocent people have been killed in a bid to destabilise the situation,” he said.
The Army chief said authorities have tried every possible measure to defuse the tensions in the three southern border provinces – from compensating the victims and building understanding and mutual respect among the people in the region to enforcing applicable laws.
However, the laws have been imposed “in a Thai way” and only some were strictly enforced.
“We don’t want to create negative repercussions. There are both people who suffer and people who don’t, so we need to use the law appropriately,” he said.
There would be no special precautions taken for possible insurgent attacks next Thursday, the eighth anniversary of the Tak Bai incident in Narathiwat, when many Muslim protesters died of asphyxiation while being transported to a military camp after their arrests. “The authorities always take rigorous measures, whatever the [date]. Civil officials, police and soldiers work 24 hours a day every day,” he said.
