Peace talk after the 9th anniversary of Tak Bai tragedy?
The new round of peace talk between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group looks likely to be postponed to after the 9th anniversary of the Tak Bai incident on October 25 from the tentatively scheduled October 20.
Lt-Gen Paradorn Pattanatabutr, secretary-general of the National Security Council and chief of the government’s peace talk delegation, told Isranews agency that he was coordinating with the Malaysian government to set a new schedule for the peace talk which should possibly be after October 25.
He admitted that there was concern that the original schedule of the talk which was set at the third week of the month was too close to the the 9th anniversary of Tak Bai incident.
Nine years ago on October 25, a protest by some 1,500 Malay Muslims in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat against the detention of their six people descended into a tragedy when seven protesters were shot dead by security forces as they tried to storm the police station where the six were held. 78 others died of suffocation or organ collapse after they were stacked together one on another in trucks and driven to Inkhayut barrack in Pattani five hours away.
The NSC chief explained that the postponement of the peace talk would allow authorities to observe the situation on October 25 whether there would be a surge of violence by the separatists to commemorate the tragic event and would use the event as an issue in responding to the BRN’s five demands.
He said that the government is ready to sit down for talks with the BRN the details of the five demands if the separatist group confirms that they do not aspire for separatism and will abide by the Thai constitution.
He quoted Hassan Taib, chief of the BRN’s peace talk team, as telling a local radio station recently that discussion on the 4th demand about the right to land ownership of what used to be Patani state could wait until mutual trust has improved.
Lt-Gen Paradorn explained that the BRN had considered the southern unrest problem in two dimensions – one dimension is about equality and the other concerns social and cultural identity.
"It must be clear what is the definition of equality, what can be done or cannot be done so that the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre will be able to deal with them. As for the social and cultural dimension, the principle is how we can co-exist together in peace and without mutual mistrust," said the NSC chief.
The postponement of the peace talk was also influenced by Army commander-in-Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha who said on October 10 that the Thai side was not ready yet for the talk tentatively scheduled on October 20.
He said that it didn’t matter if talk would be held 100 times of 1,000 times but officials responsible for the talk should not be rushed. He alleged that the separatists had wanted to push the government’s tolerance to the limit so they could justify for secession.
"We are now in the upper hand, that is why they want to talk. But we have not accepted any of their demands. We are still fighting with each other and both suffer. I disagree with fighting but their demands must be legal and will not lead to the loss of our territory," said the army chief.
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Caption : Lt-Gen Paradorn Pattanatabutr