Leaders of reds, yellows agree to amnesty bills

Red-shirt and yellow-shirt leaders Thursday held a closed-door meeting with Deputy House Speaker Charoen Jankomol to discuss two proposed amnesty bills directed at those involved in the country's ongoing political conflict - one for protesters, and the other for protest leaders.

Although the meeting was unofficial and its results were inconclusive, attendants praised the atmosphere as one of mature and reasoned discussion.

Charoen invited Pheu Thai Party MP Worachai Hema (Samut Prakan), a representative from the Nitirat group, Pheu Thai MP Korkaew Pikulthong, a representative of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD), and Panthep Puapongpan, a People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) representative, for a two-hour meeting on the amnesty bills.

Worachai said attendants agreed with the idea to issue both the first amnesty bill, to pardon those who violated the emergency decree, and the second bill, to pardon protesters as a way of reducing political conflicts. The bills would allow for the formation of a neutral central committee to decide who would be pardoned.

The Nation