Arrest of Tak Bai massacre suspects ‘will reduce southern violence’
Wan Noor warns the use of force will not end the conflict
Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha on Sunday called on the authorities to step up efforts to bring suspects in the 20-year-old Tak Bai massacre case to justice before the statute of limitations in the case expires on Friday.
Wan Noor, a Muslim MP of the Prachachart Party whose base is the Muslim-dominated southern border provinces, said he believed the southern violence would ease a lot if the authorities showed seriousness in delivering justice to the Tak Bak massacre victims by arresting the suspects before the case expires.
The public prosecutors and relatives of 48 out of 85 Muslims killed during the Tak Bai protest crackdown on October 25, 2004, have filed two separate lawsuits against 14 defendants but none of them have been brought to the Narathiwat Provincial Court.
The prosecutors decided to arraign General Chalermchai Wiroonphet, former commander of the 5th Infantry Division and seven military truck drivers for causing deaths to 78 protesters who died of suffocation while they were being transported to an army camp in Pattani.
But relatives of the 48 victims filed a lawsuit against General Pisan Wattanawongkiri, former chief of the 4th Army Region, Chalermchai and five other defendants, who were senior officials of Narathiwat and southern border provinces at that time.
Chalermchai was named a defendant in both cases.
On October 15, Pisan quit as Pheu Thai member and an MP but he indicated he would not return to Thailand before the case expired. He said he was recovering from an ailment abroad.
Wan Noor said not all violent attacks in the deep South were related to the Tak Bai case, but he believed the case caused discontent among Muslims, which led to stepped up attacks to send a message to the authorities to bring the suspects to justice.
If some suspects are brought to justice before the case expires, the violence would ease up to a point, the Parliament president reasoned.
Wan Noor also warned that the use of force would not end the southern violence. Instead, he said the government should step up efforts to hold talks with the dissatisfied groups.
