Still no glitter of light at the end of the tunnel in far South
Four months after the historic signing of the peace deal framework between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional separatist group in Kuala Lumpur on February 18 followed up by three rounds of peace talk, it now appears that peace remains elusive and not a glitter of light at the end of the tunnel.
Instead, violence seems to have escalated much to the dismay of locals in the restive region – many of whom have started to question whether the rebel group is really committed to the peace process and what is the point of peace talk.
On one single day on June 18, there were three bombings, one ambush and one gun attack resulting to three members of the security forces killed and 12 others injured.
According to official records, there were altogether 46 violent incidents in January this year, 42 incidents in February, 57 in March, 63 in April and 48 in May. The casualties from the violence are as follows: 38 deaths and 49 injured in January, 50 deaths and 90 injured in February, 45 deaths and 109 injured in March, 49 deaths and 79 injured in April and 56 deaths and 77 injured in May.
Out of 1,970 villages in the three southernmost provinces, 136 of them have been classified as "red" villages where separatists are active, 234 villages are classified as "yellow" and kept under close watch by authorities and the rest are classified as "green". Of the 136 "red" villages, 32 of them are in Yala, 47 in Pattani, 48 in Narathiwat and nine in Songkhla.
However Group Captain Somkiat Pholprayoon, commander of the South-based marine task force, said that the situation in the deep South remains stable without any clear sign that violence has escalated. He noted that violent incidents increased and dropped in accordance with timing as usual.
At the last peace talk on June 13, the BRN has agreed to scale down violence during the fasting month of Ramadan. Group Captain Somkiat said that whether violence has de-escalated as agreed by the rebels or not had to be assessed during the Ramadan.
As for the government’s promise to scale down the operations of the security forces during Ramadan, the naval officer said that he was yet to receive an instruction from his superior otherwise his men would continue to do their job as usual.
Former senator Den Tohmeena earlier told Isra news agency that he was pessimistic that the peace talk would be successful because the rebels have no intention to seek peace but they were forced to enter the peace process by Malaysia.
Violent incidents continued unabated. On June 22, suspected insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in Nong Chik district of Pattani, killing an army major and wounding five other army personnel. The men were travelling in an armoured pick-up truck on highway 43 when the insurgents set off the bomb which was buried under the road. The powerful blast overturned the truck and killed Major Itthipol Kammongkol at the scene and injured five others.
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Caption : Bomb blast incident on June 18, attacked the police pickup truck at Krong Pinang district in Yala.