Reports about devastating flood in Pattani early this month appeared to have eclipsed an interesting event which took place in the southern province during the same period – that was the abrupt transfer of the acting superintendent of the Muang district police, Pol Col Narucha Suwanlapha, out of the province.
The army is in favour of lifting emergency rule in just one or two districts in the deep South instead of five districts as proposed by Deputy Interior Minister Thavorn Senniem, it was reliably reported.
Fourteen suspects detained on security-related charges have been temporarily released under a bail programme initiated by the Justice Ministry.
Thai Buddhists appear to be the target of the latest bomb attacks by suspected militants in the three southernmost provinces.
Six years after the Tak Bai tragic incident on October 25, 2004, justice still remains elusive for the loved ones of the 78 Muslim men died of suffocation while they were being trucked to an army barrack in Narathiwat and seven others killed in front of Tak Bai district police station.
More than 6,000 teachers have asked to be transferred out of the three southernmost provinces since 2002 for fear of their own safety.
Seven people were killed and six others injured within three days of violence in October in the three southernmost provinces. Details of the deadly violent incidents are as follows:
With the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca about to begin next month, Thai Muslims are demanding that the government set up a permanent Hajj affairs office to look after Thai pilgrims who wish to make a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to the holy city.
Recent “arrest” of six clam fishermen on theft charge has threatened to exacerbate the simmering conflict between clam farm operators and local fishermen who have made a living by catching clam in the sea off Pattani province.
The brutal killing of five people by suspected militants at a fruit market in Sai Buri district of Pattani on September 29 has caused a big scare among “longgong” (scientifically named as Lansium domesticum Corr.) traders and the growers of this famous tropical fruit of southern Thailand.