About 30 Thai ambassadors to countries that make up the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations travelled to the South yesterday on a fact-finding mission to help them answer the many controversial questions on the violence.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Chidchai Vanasa-tidya, who is in charge of operations in the region, urged the ambassadors to explain the government’s efforts to contain the violence, especially to the countries of the OIC.

Four major issues of international concern are the killing of 32 Muslims in the historic mosque of Krue Se, the deaths in custody of 85 Muslims in Tak Bai, the missing Muslim lawyer Somchai Neela-phaijit and the disappearance of hundreds of local Muslims, he said.

Chidchai said the Justice Ministry was disseminating information on the government’s work on the four issues through the Foreign Ministry in order to minimise the damage to Thailand’s reputation.

Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said the OIC and Thailand’s Asean neighbours already understood the situation in the deep South very well. They knew the situation was a domestic affair without elements of religious conflict or the involvement of international terrorists, he said.

The ambassadors spent only half a day in the region, where they visited Krue Se Mosque and Yala Islamic College amid continuing violence in which a local politician was shot dead in Narathiwat.

Police believe the attack is connected to the series of violent incidents that have rocked the region since the beginning of last year and so far killed more than 800 people.

Dam Sounsakul, 44, a former member of Pron Tambon Administration Oganisation, was attacked by two gunmen while driving home, an eyewitness said.

“Two gunmen from a pick-up truck opened fire on her just a moment after she dropped me on the roadside in front of my house,” said Saeng Chansukul, the witness.

On Saturday night, five Burmese construction workers were seriously injured in a gun attack while watching television at home. Unknown gunmen fired from the backyard of the house in Pattani’s Yarang district, police said. The motivation for the attack remained unclear.

Sopaporn Saeung
The Nation
Pattani