I understand the reason and the necessity for the military to use special law such as the Emergency Decree in the restive deep South because for most of the violent cases which took place there eyewitnesses were nonexistent and the perpetrators were motivated with special reasons that the use of Criminal Procedure Code alone to deal with the cases was almost impossible.

This is the second part of the study on the unrest situation in the three southern border provinces undertaken by Poonyawee Prachuablarp, an assistant judge and a law graduate of Chulalongkorn University.

It came as little surprise that the mass defection of 93 former and active Islamic militants to the government was viewed with suspicion by quite a few people that the defection was real or staged to give an impression that the government is making a headway in the war against insurgency.

It has been long suspected that Islamic militant groups in the troubled deep South must have received financial support from underground business and foreign donations for education. However, no action has been taken to cut off this financial lifeline for the militants until recently.

The Operations Centre to Resolve Problems in Southern Border Provinces headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa has encountered challenges from Islamic militants as well as the Southern Border Provinces Development Advisory Council.