The Thai government will not allow insurgents in southern Thailand to use the recent surge in violence as leverage in peace talks, said Secretary General of the National Security Council Chatchai Bangchuad.
He said while the government is determined to resume negotiations with the armed groups, it will deal with those responsible for violence with the full force of the law.
“They want to use violence to gain leverage in the peace talks or in other areas, or to demonstrate that authorities have lost control on the ground,” Chatchai said in a recent interview with Thai PBS World.
The security chief was commenting on a recent series of violence in the three southernmost provinces, including the killing of five paramilitary rangers manning a checkpoint in Narathiwat.
The incidents prompted Thai authorities to suspend a new round of peace talks initially scheduled to be held in late September in Malaysia.
“The government’s policy is clear. We will not allow them to use violence as leverage in the peace talks,” he said.
A prerequisite to resuming the peace talks is an explanation from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) over the violence, he said. Thai authorities have held several rounds of talks mainly with BRN, which is believed to be the main rebel group behind the violence in southern Thailand over the past two decades.
The NSC chief also said some of the issues to be discussed with the BRN when the peace talks resume will also need to be revised in light of the most recent violence.
“Along with the next round of peace talks, we also need to hear from the people in the local areas who consider public safety as their top priority,” he said.
Thanut Suvarnananda, the Thai government’s new chief of peace dialogue, has been meeting with communities in the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat to gather their views on the situation in the region.
“Besides talking to the armed groups, we should also hear from people on the ground who are most affected by the violence,” he earlier told Thai PBS World.
He said the opinions and suggestions from local people should also be incorporated into the peace talks.
Chatchai of NSC said peace talks are necessary to pave the way for a resolution to the southern conflicts but cautioned that violence is not going to subside soon.
“If you look at other regions in the world, you can see that even while peace talks progress, there is still violence, there is still fighting,” he said.
Chatchai led the Thai government’s previous peace talks team, which held several rounds of dialogue with BRN representatives with Malaysia acting as facilitator.
“After more than 10 years of dialogue, I am confident that we have been talking to the right people,” he said, referring to his BRN’s counterparts.
But he admitted that the BRN representatives from the military and political wings joining the talks may have differing views on negotiating terms.
Continuing violence has also raised questions about whether the BRN representatives in the peace talks have control over the operatives on the ground.
Chatchai also lauded Malaysia for its role in facilitating the peace dialogue and expressed hope to see its more active cooperation in tracking down perpetrators of violence seeking refuge in Malaysian border areas.
In the aftermath of the killing of the five rangers in Narathiwat late last month, a senior Thai security official suggested that some of the assailants fled to Malaysia.
In response, the chief of the Malaysian border state of Kelantan said there was no information that they had escaped to Malaysia.
Thai police later issued an Interpol Red Notice for the arrest and extradition of 11 people suspected to be involved in the killings and are believed to be hiding in Malaysia.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has repeatedly pledged to cooperate with Thailand to help find ways to resolve the southern conflicts.
Chatchai denied media reports that Thailand is approaching Indonesia for help with the peace process in the south.
“We are dealing only with Malaysia,” he said.
