More groups to join peace dialogue
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Several other separatist groups, apart from Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), have been chosen for the upcoming bilateral talks next month, a military adviser to the National Security Council said yesterday.
Colonel Charoon Ampha said the BRN would no longer be the sole representative of separatists, adding that it would only give up four of the 15 seats.
Two seats have been assigned to Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), one to Barisan Islam Pembebasan Pattani (BIPP) and another eight to individuals representing unspecified groups, identified as “those with different stances”, he added.
He went on to say that the five original preconditions proposed by the BRN had been accepted in principle by Thai authorities and would be maintained in further dialogue with the new groups.
Though a definite date for the next meeting has yet to be set, authorities say it will certainly be held early next month and that the venue would still be in Malaysia, which will continue being the facilitator of the meetings.
The Thai side has insisted that the preconditions would only be implemented according to the Constitution and that separatism would, under no circumstance be allowed or, as the colonel put it, “the dialogue is over for good”.
The other precondition is that all signs of violence must cease or be cut down while the dialogue is goes on.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court yesterday sentenced a separatist leader to life imprisonment, upholding two lower courts’ verdicts, which had both initially handed a death sentence and later commuted it to a life term.
Rosdi Yamama, the leader of a separatist cell known as the “City One Group”, committed crimes on seven counts in relation to his role in a 2005 raid on an Army barracks in which a large number of assault rifles were stolen and four on-duty soldiers killed.
The separatist was initially sentenced to death for his role in insurrection under the Criminal Code’s Article 113, but was later commuted to life thanks to his confession and cooperation.
Yesterday’s verdict was read out to prosecutors at the Criminal Court and in Rosdi’s absence, after it was read to him at Songkhla Court on October 21.
He has been in court custody since his arrest in 2008.
He also faces charges for other acts of terror in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun and two Yawi-speaking districts in Songkhla.
