Panitharn: It’s time to call the Muslim militants terrorists
The perpetrators of violent incidents in the far South should be treated as terrorists whereas the government must be ready for peace talks with the terrorist groups and must come up with new peace overtures, said Panitharn Wattanayakorn, a respectable security expert and former secretary-general of of former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Speaking to the Isra news team ahead of the anniversary of the Tak Bai incident on October 25, Dr Panitharn said that violent incidents perpetrated by the terrorists had reduced by 30-40 percent since 2008 as the terrorist had switched their tactic from guerrilla warfare to urban terrorism in order to strike fear among the populace in the restive region and to force the government into the negotiating table.
"The number of violent incidents are no longer important. Nor are the magnitude of the damage or loss inflicted by the violent incidents. They (the terrorists) no longer want a separate state but are bent on striking fear among the people in order to gain an upper hand in case there is a peace talk," explained the security expert.
He noted that, of late, the activities or incidents perpetrated by the terrorists were symbolic citing the terror campaign to force all businesses in the three southernmost provinces to close down on Fridays and the public display of Malaysian national flags at about 300 spots in the restive region.
The terrorists’ strategy is not about territory control as the battlefield is no longer in the villages but "in the heads and in the cyber world because this will cause widespread fear and have huge psychological impacts which will lead to peace talks for self-determination", said Dr Panitharn.
He suggested that, in the future, the Philippine model of peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Muslim rebels might be applied for the situation in southern Thailand and, in such a case, the Thai military might not be able to cope with the situation.
He attributed the terrorist groups’ switch of tactic to the government’s failure to pay adequate attention to the southern problem in the past one year. The terrorists many of whom are young men are not interested in the typical offers provided by the government but are keen with preserving their Muslim identity, he said.
"These new groups which have been active in the region have rejected their old guards although they may not have a spiritual leader. But a new leader will certainly emerge in the future and it is necessary that we must be able to locate this new leader so that peace talks can be held," said Panitharn.
Although the Pheu Thai-led government does not have any MP in the far South, he said that this disadvantage represents a blessing in disguise as the government can think outside the box and come up with new initiatives.
As the situation in the deep South is evolving into a struggle for self-determination, the big question mark is whether the Thai government is prepared to cope with it, asked Dr Panitharn, adding that Thailand cannot afford a protracted struggle because of the high price to be sacrificed – that is the lives of the innocent civilians.
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Thanks : Photo by Nation Photo Library