Thailand should immediately lift a state of emergency imposed during recent political protests to promote reconciliation or frustration could lead to more violence, a think tank said yesterday.
The anti-government protests by supporters of an ousted prime minister turned violent in April and May. Ninety people were killed and almost 2,000 wounded, raising fears for stability and growth in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.
Analysts say nothing has been done to heal divisions between the rival political blocs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Critics say while the government calls for reconciliation it is stifling opposition with arrests, censorship and emergency rule in the capital and 23 of the nation’s 76 provinces.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said emergency rule should be lifted immediately as part of steps toward peaceful elections and the restoration of stability.
“While the ‘Red Shirts’ have no opportunity for open and peaceful expression because of draconian laws, their legitimate frustrations are being forced underground and possibly towards illegal and violent actions,” the group said in a report.
“The first gesture that might demonstrate a renewed commitment to building bridges would be to unconditionally and immediately lift the state of emergency,” it said.
The government is due to consider lifting the state of emergency today. However, while it might be lifted in some provinces, it is expected to be extended in Bangkok and bastions of support for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the north and northeast.
The government has stressed the need for security that it says the state of emergency ensures.
“We will take every concerned voice into consideration but security is our priority. Tourists and investors want security and stability,” government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told the Thai PBS TV channel.
Officials point to a series of small attacks, including a blast last month outside the office of a party in the ruling coalition, which wounded one man.
Meanwhile, Cambodia deported two suspected members of the Red Shirt movement to Thailand yesterday, where they are accused of involvement in an attempted bomb attack in Bangkok last month.
Kobchai Boonplod and Varissareeya Boonsom, both 43, were handed over to Thai officials at Phnom Penh International Airport and put on a plane to Thailand.
The two Thais were arrested on Saturday in Cambodia’s northwestern Siem Reap Province over an attempted bombing at the Bangkok headquarters of the Bhumjaithai party, part of the Thai government coalition, on June 22.
As she was escorted to the plane, a tearful Varissareeya told reporters that sending her back to Thailand meant that “I am going to die.”
Cambodia’s decision to apprehend the suspects without a request from the Thai government was taken in “the spirit of combating ... terrorists,” Long Visalo, secretary of state at the foreign ministry, told Thai officials.
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