Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has approved a further extension of the emergency decree in the three southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat for another three months, from March 20 to June 19.
The 71st extension of the decree was approved after a meeting of a committee chaired by Gen Prawit, who is responsible for security affairs, on Wednesday.
Participants at the meeting were briefed on the situation in the three border provinces during the period from Dec 20 to Feb 23, said Lt Gen Patchasak Patirupanont, Gen Prawit’s deputy spokesman.
The committee reviewed an assessment, conducted by the Forward Command of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Region 4, that showed a decrease in violence in Mayo district of Pattani.
Members subsequently agreed to delist Mayo from the dangerous zone designation and impose the Internal Security Act instead.
The emergency decree from March 20 to June 19 will apply in the three southern border provinces, with the exception of the four districts of Sri Sakhon, Sungai Kolok, Waeng and Sukhirin in Narathiwat; Yaring, Mayo, Mai Kaen and Mae Lan in Pattani; and Betong and Kabang in Yala.
Gen Prawit instructed the Isoc Forward Command and Provincial Police Region 9 to look for normal legal measures to replace the emergency decree in a bid to create a positive atmosphere more conducive to the peace talks that resumed last year.
Low-level separatist violence has simmered in the border provinces for decades but it entered a new phase in 2004, and the emergency decree was first invoked in July 2005. It has since been renewed every three months without fail.
From 2004 to Jan 31 this year, a total of 7,344 deaths and 13,641 injuries have been linked to violent incidents in the three provinces, according to the monitoring group Deep South Watch.