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SOUTHERN INSURGENCY: Dozens of fighters to surrender
Narathiwat governor hails emergency decree for success while violence
A controversial emergency decree granting authorities sweeping powers in the troubled deep South has borne fruit with dozens of militants agreeing to turn themselves in on Tuesday, Narathiwat Governor Pracha Tehrat said yesterday.
The fighters have been operating in three districts in the province, Chanae, Sungai Padi and Joh I Rong.
“These militants are in hiding and have been the engine of violent campaigns against the authorities,” Pracha said. “Yet they’ve decided to lay down their arms because the emergency act affords them an opportunity for protection [against prosecution] if they surrender.”
Critics of the decree have accused its makers of human-rights violations by granting authorities excessive powers in cracking down on alleged insurgents. The Senate is expected to endorse the decree tomorrow.
“[The militants] will turn themselves in to the authorities on Tuesday,” Pracha said.
The governor added, however, that alleged militants volunteering to surrender would be screened to ensure that none of them was exploiting the promised leniency to clear themselves of criminal acts.
“We will cross-check their names with our list of those wanted on criminal charges, and only people with none against them will be accepted. Those who have committed serious crimes will face legal action,” Pracha explained.
Meanwhile Nimu Makaje, vice president of the Yala Islamic Committee, said that once the emergency decree received endorsement by the Senate, the government should take the opportunity to regulate Muslim charities and civic associations to ensure that they were not used as fronts for channelling funds to finance separatist activities. “To date, no serious control of such foundations and associations has been enacted, enabling some of them to secretly siphon money off to separatist groups,” he said. “Perhaps the absence of controls has helped in the continuing of southern violence.”
By law, all charities and foundations must file annual reports on their income, expenditure and activities. Yet, Nimu explained, “It has been found that no one has been actively monitoring the issue. Some foundations have been effectively out of business for a long time, having no activities and committees.”
Yet Uma Toryip, a senator for Narathiwat, warned that the emergency decree bestowed excessive powers on police and military officials at the expense of civilians. “Authorities have already been abusing their powers for a long time, and the decree only enables them to continue doing so with increased impunity,” he said.
Uma added that he was gathering complaints from the families and relatives of suspects who had allegedly been tortured by police and would brief Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra soon.
Meanwhile violence continued unabated in the troubled region. In Yala’s Raman district, Muslim defence volunteer Hadi Mataleela, 36, was ambushed by gunmen yesterday afternoon as he was riding his motorcycle.
On Friday night attackers stormed the home of Ma-ae Wantae, 37, a deputy village headman in Rangae district of Narathiwat, and opened fire on him. Ma-ae was pronounced dead on the way to hospital.
In both cases police attributed the attacks to the work of Islamic militants.
Also late on Friday, a paraplegic father and his son were gunned down in Yala. Sukit Yingsong, a 28-year-old defence volunteer, and his father Kan, 60, were attacked with automatic weapons inside their home.
Police said Sukit, a Buddhist, had earlier been threatened by Muslim militants and been told to abandon his house, which is surrounded by those of Muslim villagers.
Justice Minister Chidchai Vansathidya called on police to speed up their investigations into the killings in an effort to establish which murders were linked to the insurgency and which had been the result of criminal vendettas.
“Of all the murders that have happened in the deep South, I think no more than a third are related to the unrest,” he explained. |
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