PAD to meet on Saturday
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will meet on Saturday for the first time since the royal festivities. And its key message will be that genuine political reform will never happen as long as Thaksin Shinawatra's regime remains.
"If we don't put an end to Thaksin's regime, reform efforts will end up an illusion," PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said yesterday. If Thaksin's shadow remained, it would influence efforts to restore genuine representative governance, he said. About 1,500 leading members of PAD from 76 provinces will attend the assembly for strategy discussions. They will focus on how to end Thaksin's "hegemony" and expose the abuse of authority by some government figures trying to protect it, plus disruptive attempts to sabotage the top courts' efforts to defuse the political crisis. PAD's five decision-makers will address the gathering in the morning. In the afternoon session, the participants will break into six groups according to their home region to work out local strategies. The PAD called a halt to its rallies against Thaksin, now back as caretaker PM, in the run-up to royal celebrations.
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