BANGKOK, April 29 – The Thai government is ready to discuss the latest Muslim demands made using a video message by southern insurgents who called for, among other demands, the unconditional release of insurgent suspects, a senior security official said.
The YouTube clip was released ahead of today’s second round of peace talks between the high-level Thai security team and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
National Security Council (NSC) Secretary General Paradorn Pattanathabut, who heads the Thai delegation, said the five-point demands made in the video clip would not jeopardise today’s peace dialogues.
He said he would ask the insurgent representatives today if the demands were made by an individual or a group of people but talks will continue to jointly find peace for Thailand’s troubled far South.
“At least we know what they think and want. It’s a gesture of their willingness to talk, otherwise they would not issue the demands,” he said positively.
One of the demands called for the release of all Muslim detainees and arrest warrants for alleged separatists be dropped.
Lt-Gen Paradorn said the Thai authorities are willing to facilitate justice and proceed in accord with the judiciary system, insisting that today’s peace talks will carry on and the Thai team will renew its initial proposal on resolutions to violence in the South.
Abdulkarim Khalib of the BRN, who appeared in the video clip with Ustaz Hassan Taib, read the demands. He said Malaysia must be the mediator, and not facilitator, in the peace dialogues and other ASEAN members and non-government organisations should be involved in the peace process.
The peace talks must be between Thailand and the Pattani Malayu people, led by the BRN, he said, adding that the Thai government must accept the BRN as a liberation movement, not a separatist group.
An informed source said it is unlikely that the Thai security team will embrace the demands, especially the proposed release of all militant suspects and revocation of arrest warrants.
