Govt changes tack to deal with unrest

The cabinet has agreed to replace martial law in four Songkhla districts with the Internal Security Act.

The ISA is seen as a softer option to martial law as it does not give authorities the power to detain people without a warrant. Under martial law, suspects can be held for 30 days without being charged.

The four districts are Chana, Na Thawi, Saba Yoi and Thepha.

But the ISA can only be enforced after it has received royal endorsement. Martial law will remain in place until then.

The act should receive royal approval by the end of November, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

If using the ISA instead of martial law proves successful in the four districts of Songkhla, the strategy could be applied across the three other violence-ravaged southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

The cabinet made the decision after the National Security Council (NSC) and the Internal Security Operations Command confirmed the suspected insurgent activity in Songkhla had abated.

But the security agencies asked for martial law and the emergency decree to be maintained in the three other border provinces for the time being.

Mr Abhisit said the cabinet approved extending the emergency decree in the lower South until Jan 19, 2010.

The former deputy chairman of Yala Provincial Islamic Committee, Nimu Makaje, said extending the decree did not reassure local people about their safety.

In some cases arrest warrants were thought to have been issued improperly under the decree, undermining people's trust in the justice system, he said.

Mr Abhisit said a panel would be set up to take complaints from people concerning the abuse of power by authorities.

The panel will be supervised jointly by PM's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey and Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam.

NSC secretary-general Thawil Pliensri said the government had extended a programme to encourage suspected insurgents to turn themselves in to authorities by the end of November.

The suspects would then be put to work on development projects. They could also potentially be given legal amnesty, Mr Thawil said.

Meanwhile, in Narathiwat, two soldiers were seriously wounded yesterday in a bomb attack in Waeng district.

Police said attackers planted a homemade bomb under Sgt Maj 1st Class Surachai Kliadsoongnoen's pickup truck.

Sgt Maj 1st Class Surachai, 25, and his wife, Pvt 1st Class Aphiradee Makeh, 21, drove to the district's Military Development Unit, where they work, at about 7am. The bomb exploded after Sgt Maj 1st Class Surachai stopped the truck at a checkpoint in front of Wat Khao Khemthong.

The officer and his wife were seriously injured in the blast and were rushed to Sungai Kolok Hospital.

In Pattani, a fire broke out at the Bang Tawa tambon administration organisation office in Nong Chik district in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The office building and two trucks parked nearby were damaged by the fire which police suspect was arson.

A few hours later, another suspected arson attack took place at Ban Trang School in Mayo district.

The fire consumed the two-storey wooden teachers' residence.