Muslim children can claim special pension
The Council of State has recently ruled that children born to officials married properly under the Islamic law are entitled to special pension in case their parents were killed while on duty.
The ruling came about after the Comptroller Department sought legal advice from the Council of State over the case of Ms Anita and Ms Armee Makamena, children of Sakariya Makamena, a paramilitary ranger killed by suspected insurgents in February 2010.
The two youths filed a petition with the Narathiwat provincial court asking that they are declared the lawful children of Sakariya so that they would be able to claim special pension from the state or the Comptroller Department. However, the court refused to accept the petition on the ground that they were already lawful children of Sakaariya who was married to Ms Rohaning in accordance with the Islamic law.
There was however another legal hitch – that was the couple did not register their marriage in accordance with Section 1457 (1) of the Civil and Commercial Code and the Family Registration Act B.E. 2478.
The Council of State said that on civil cases regarding family and inheritance issues for Muslim residents in the four southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Satun, Islamic law should be applied in place of the Civil Code. Hence, in this particular case, the two Muslim youths are entitled to special pension from the state.
Regarding the unrest situation in the Deep South, suspected insurgents detonated a motorcycle side car rigged with a huge amount of explosives as a bus in which a group of paramilitary rangers were travelling drove past a bridge in Tambon Praiwan, Tak Bai district of Narathiwat on June 26.
The powerful blast injured eight rangers in the bus and six civilians travelling in a cement truck which arrived at the scene at the same time. Fortunately, the cement truck helped cushion the force of the explosion otherwise the rangers would have been killed or seriously injured.
One day earlier on June 25, suspected insurgents who dressed in army uniforms stopped a pick-up truck carrying three chicken traders. The men then forced the three traders out of the truck before shooting them to death at point-blank range.
All the victims were residents of Rattaphum district of Songkhla.
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Caption : Council of State office