Another peace march in the Deep South
The southern border peace march during February 15-21 is aimed to encourage people in the three southernmost provinces and the rest of the country to participate in expressing their wish for an end of violence in the restive region, creating a sense of cooperation in cultivation of peaceful relations among diverse groups of people.
It is also intended to create an awareness among the marchers of each individual’s wish towards the violence in the region and to understand the meaning of peace in each individual’s mind.
The peace march is the joint effort of the people’s sector and civic groups in the region. These include the Buddhists for Peace Network, FaSai Youth’s Group, SaiBuri River Basin Association, Narathiwat Civic Society Network, Women for Peace Association and the Southern Peace Centre of Mahidol University.
The march will take the marchers from Yala’sMuang district, through Pattani and ending up in Ta Bai district of Narathiwat, said Mrs Lamai Manakarn, a coordinator of the Buddhists for Peace Network.
She said that even though violence seems to have eased as shown by statistics, extreme caution still needs to be exercised as because violence can occur unpredictably. Hence, civic groups and the people’s sector must pool their resources in the search for peace and cessation of violence.
Mrs Lamai said the views collected from people during the six-day march would be complied, summarized and then proposed to the government as another option of peaceful resolution to the southern unrest problem.
Similar peace march called March for Patani Peace was organized in 2010 and led by Mr Gothom Ariya, director of the Peace Study and Development Centre of Mahidol University. It started in Salayadistrict in NakhonPathom and ended in Pattani covering a distance of 1,100 kilometres in 53 days.
Mrs Lamai said she thought the peace march would provide an opportunity for people sharing opposing views to express their opinions.
Personally, she thought that several militants who took up arms to fight against the government because they didn’t have the channel through which they could air their views and get heard from the government.
She said that it was very encouraging that the government had attached importance to the peaceful efforts to resolve the unrest problem.
In the longer term, she suggested that the government should let the people decide what they want in the region with the government just providing the support otherwise there is slim chance that the unrest problem can be resolved.
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Caption : Lamai Manakarn