BANGKOK, May 31 – Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung has urged southern insurgents to give themselves up to the authorities and promised to treat them fairly in accord with the constitution and human rights principles.
Meeting on Thursday with the Thai security delegation involved in the peace process for Thailand’s far South, he said the government has strongly emphasised justice in tackling southern unrest, and it is ready to review the current enforcement of the Emergency Decree in certain areas in the South if it would help reduce violence in the region.
Formally termed the Executive Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations, the measure first took effect on July 19, 2005 in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.
The government is willing to relax some of the regulations, he added.
Mr Chalerm is director of the Centre to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces.
He said deputy national police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen will be in charge of updating the public on the southern situation.
Paradorn Patanatabut, secretary general of the National Security Council (NSC), said the latest video clip on YouTube by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) movement denying its responsibility in the recent murder of the Yala governor and six people at a grocery store in Pattani was a psychological manoeuvring.
It was the second BRN video clip on YouTube. The first was released a few days before the second round of peace talks in Kuala Lumpur on April 29.
