Bt7.8-Bn For Far South Development

[Flashermac]

A HUGE budget has been approved for development projects in the deep South in the hope of winning the hearts of the local Muslim population as the latest effort to subdue the decade-long insurgency.

 

Colonel Banphot Phoolphian, a military spokesman, said yesterday that spending of the Bt7.79-billion budget would be supervised by a new ad-hoc administrative centre and overseen by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defence minister.

 

The scheme would be jointly carried out under a high-profile policy by 55 government agencies next year.

 

Prawit has issued a strict policy for military units in the southernmost provinces to keep in mind that they are stationed there to serve and look after the local people - not to fight against them.

 

Some Bt1.7 billion was also approved to create a Navy paramilitary regiment to eventually replace Army regulars rotated through the strife-torn region.

 

The new regiment would have 16 companies of male rangers and a platoon of female rangers and would be set up in two years' time, said Banphot, who was reporting the results of the joint meeting of the centre and the Internal Security Operations Command at Government House.

 

The meeting also acknowledged the Army's delivery of 3,700 HK-33 assault rifles to the Interior Ministry for distribution to civil defence volunteers acting as self-defence village-protection units on guard duty.

 

There is a plan to recruit 3,000 new volunteers from 2,000 of those based in the far South and 1,000 from elsewhere across the country.

 

Prawit has said the surge in violence was possibly intended by militants to push for a new round of talks between active insurgent cells and security authorities, but he disapproved of such an approach, saying future talks should start with peace from the insurgents.

 

Efforts to restart the discussions were underway but a new balance had to be found prior to the talks. He did not elaborate on what that meant.

 

At Army headquarters, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered tactical readjustments to the Army's routine operations aimed at coping with the spike in violence over the past few weeks, based mainly on proactive and counterintelligence, as well as more road checkpoints.

 

Prayut said other military or civilian measures including psychological and outreach projects should be utilised further to win over the local population.

 

Differentiation between insurgents and local Muslims should be done more efficiently along with religious teaching to encourage local Muslims to denounce violence and distortion of Islam by insurgent ideologists, he said.

 

Meanwhile, a Princess of Narathiwat University student who was shot on Sunday evening remains in critical condition. The unnamed sophomore will soon undergo surgery to remove a bullet from the back of her head.

 

Many schools, including 369 in all 13 districts in Narathiwat, reopened for the new semester under especially tight security by soldiers, police and defence volunteers.

 

In Pattani's Muang district, two occupants and three others were shot dead, likely by insurgents, while travelling in a pickup truck.

 

 

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