The Chularajmontri, Thailand’s highest Islamic spiritual authority, has condemned the recent wave of violence in southern provinces, calling for the protection of vulnerable and innocent people.
In an official statement, issued yesterday, the Chularajmontri’s office expressed its strongest condemnation of the violence so far, stating that “there are no excuses, political, ethnic, religious or historical, for committing such heinous crimes.”
“The victims, people with disabilities, the elderly, women, religious students and a novice Buddhist monk, were not involved in the conflict. They must be protected from all forms of violence,” the statement added.
The statement was referring to a series of violent attacks in the southernmost provinces and in Songkhla, in which a young novice monk, a nine-year-old girl, her relatives and an elderly blind woman were killed. The blind woman’s son, who has a disability, was also seriously injured.
The statement emphasised that, in Islam, killing not only violates the law and is subject to the harshest penalties, but also constitutes a severe transgression of religious teachings.
As stated in The Quran’s Surah Al-Isra 33: “Do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right.”
The Chularajmontri’s office offered deep condolences to the families and relatives of the victims and urged authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice, calling on the public to act as the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
The statement concluded with a call for an end to all forms of violence, urging all parties to seek peaceful solutions to the long-standing conflict, in the hope that Thai society will be able to move forward together.
