A ruling party lawmaker wanted by police over a deadly raid on a military armory in Thailand's Muslim-majority south flew to the troubled region yesterday with two Cabinet ministers to meet with local residents.
Hit-and-run attacks in the region has surged since the January raid and dozens of people have been killed. The government of this predominantly Buddhist country has blamed the violence on Islamic separatists, with possible links to international terrorists.
Lawmaker Najamudeen Umar accompanied Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang and Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula on what they described as an effort to assess problems and create understanding with local residents.
A Thai court on Thursday approved an arrest warrant for Najamudeen, a member of parliament from the southern province of Narathiwat, and eight other people. But police can only arrest Najamudeen if Parliament approves the action by a vote, or if he waives his parliamentary immunity. Five of the others have been taken into custody.
The nine suspects are wanted over the bloody Jan. 4 raid in Narathiwat, in which four soldiers were killed and hundreds of assault weapons stolen. According to police documents submitted in court, Najamudeen took part in three secret meetings at which the raid on the armory was planned. He denies the allegations.
Narathiwat and neighboring Pattani and Yala are the only provinces with Muslim majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. A decades-old separatist movement in the south was contained in the late 1980s, but violence began to resurface two years ago.
More than 50 people, mostly security personnel, have been killed by gunmen in the south since the raid. Another official was killed in Narathiwat yesterday. Lieutenant Pramote Kansap, 50-year-old local security official, was shot dead while jogging alone, said police Capt. Nond Chanboonrawd.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra this week said he's not concerned about the allegations against Najamudeen, a member of his party.
Thai Muslims have long complained of discrimination in jobs and education by the central government.
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
VENEZUELAN ACTION: Marco Rubio said that previous US interdiction efforts have not stemmed the flow of illicit drugs into the US and that ‘blowing them up’ would US President Donald Trump on Wednesday justified a lethal military strike that his administration said was carried out a day earlier against a Venezuelan gang as a necessary effort by the US to send a message to Latin American cartels. Asked why the military did not instead interdict the vessel and capture those on board, Trump said that the operation would cause drug smugglers to think twice about trying to move drugs into the US. “There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people and everybody fully understands that,” Trump said while hosting Polish President
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when she was spotted roaming nearby rooftops. The pair were were handed suspended jail sentences on Thursday for illegally keeping a wild animal, despite protesting that they saw Louise as their baby. The ruling follows a September 2019 incident when the months-old feline was seen roaming a rooftop in Armentieres after slipping out of the couple’s window. Authorities captured the panther by sedating her with anesthetic darts after she entered a home. No injuries were reported during the animal’s time on the loose. The court in the
RSS