Or Sor Hakim has returned home and so has violence
The attack on a village’s outpost in Ban Bannang Sareng, Bannang Sata district of Yala during the early hours of November 11 in which no one was injured would have been brushed off as a non-event had it not been the fact that the only defender in the outpost was Abdul Hakim Daraseh.
Better known as Or Sor Hakim, he was alone at the outpost when a group of militants launched the attack with hand grenades and assault rifles. Normally, there are eight volunteers on duty but all except Hakim went back home in the village.
Hakim fought back with his AK47 assault rifle until all the attackers retreated. He was unscathed.
Obviously, Hakim was marked and this should not come as a total surprise given his alleged involvement in several violent incidents in the past.
Before becoming a defence volunteer, Hakim used to join the separatist movement. He went through a commando training course and took part in several violent incidents in the restive region.
In February this year, Hakim, his brother and a friend survived a bomb attack as they were travelling in a car in Ban Bannang Kuwae in Banang Sata district. On April 20, his parents and a two-year old niece were shot dead in a pick-up truck on highway 410 linking Bannang Sata with Muang district.
The military however suspected that the violence involving Hakim’s family members was a family feud between two clans in Bannang Sata district.
Since the killings of his family members, Hakim quietly left his village for somewhere else and since then violence has tapered off until his recent return.
In an interview with Isra news agency, Hakim said he decided to return to Ban Bannang Kuwae because he wanted to stand for the headman’s election scheduled in December. He further said that he believes about half of the people in the village would support him but they could not openly show it for fear of reprisals from the militants who earlier threatened to kill him for allegedly harassing villagers.
Hakim said that he had a deep bondage with Ban Bannang Kuwae because it was there where the family of his mother settled down. Built a house and cleared the land to start an orchard.
He claimed that all the violent incidents which took place in Ban Bannang Kuwae involved relatives who were divided into three groups – one supportive of the government which included himself, the other is sympathetic to the separatist cause and the third which was forced by circumstances to side with the militants.
Hakim claimed that that there were supporters or sympathisers of the separatists in almost every village in Bannang Sata district. He cited the case of the late deputy governor of Yala Mr Issara Thongthawat who was killed in a car bomb explosion on April 5, 2013 while on an inspection trip to Betong district.
He questioned why the militants managed to attack the deputy governor despite the fact that the latter used his own car and didn’t tell anyone that he had changed the car. In other words, he suggested that the militants had "inside" information of the movements of the victim.
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Captions :
1 The roof of the village’s outpost in Ban Bannang Sareng, Bannang Sata district of Yala that was damaged by the attack with hand grenades.
2 The village's outpost