Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn visited residents in the strife-torn far South yesterday.
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn watches cattle at a demonstration farm in Narathiwat during her visit to the deep South yesterday. WAEDAO HARAI
HRH Princess Sirindhorn arrived in Narathiwat by helicopter at 8.30am yesterday before boarding a car to visit government offices and residents in the southern province. She later followed up royally-initiated projects in Muang district.
The princess granted an audience to Pol Col Thawee Sodsong, director of the the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC), who took 88 locals to receive certificates and royal pins from Her Royal Highness.
In the afternoon, the princess went to Princess of Naradhiwas University in Muang district to hand over degree certificates to 363 graduates. She then boarded a flight to Songkhla province.
Their Majesties the King and the Queen have expressed grave concern over the plight of residents in the region.
Their Majesties have assigned HRH Princess Sirindhorn to visit residents in Songkhla, Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, from Monday until today.
Defence Minister ACM Sukumpol Suwanatat yesterday said the SBPAC and the Fourth Army would decide whether the emergency decree now imposed in the deep South should be lifted.
ACM Sukumpol was responding to a comment by Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanathabutr, the secretary-general of the National Security Council, who earlier said he would ask security agencies to lift the decree imposed in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
The defence minister said Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa, who is in charge of security affairs, said he has ordered security forces to step up security in the far South, particularly in Yala and Narathiwat, from today until Saturday.
Patrols would be increased in areas prone to insurgency attacks, said the deputy prime minister following last week's car bomb attack in Pattani's Sai Buri.
He believed the situation would improve if some 5,000 border patrol police were deployed to the region.