Minister: Government's solution to violence in Thai deep South on right track

BANGKOK, February 21 (TNA) - Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat says that the government has implemented right solutions in the violence-plagued Thai far South and he believes the situation in the deep South should considerably improve over the next couple of months. Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol made the remarks on Thursday morning, before leaving for Yala and Pattani provinces in the far South, where he would inspect situation and discuss the government’s plan to exercise the Internal Security Act (ISA), instead of the executive decree on public administration in emergency situations in some areas. Insisting that the security situation has been improving in the southernmost Thai region, as violence-plagued areas now account for only 15 per cent of the entire southern border region, the Thai defence minister said it is very likely that the government will shift to the ISA in many southern border areas. According to the defence minister, there may be a Cabinet meeting in the southernmost Thai region before November 2013, thanks to its improving situation. During his trip to the Thai deep South, the Thai defence minister is scheduled to visit soldiers at a military base in Baan Yuelo in the Bareh Nua locality of Narathiwat's Bacho district to boost their morale, after insurgents attacked the base recently and 16 of the armed attackers were killed, and he is also scheduled to meet soldiers and religious leaders in Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng district and see an insurgent bombing demonstration, follow up operations and introduce his policies to soldiers at the Ingkhayutthaborihan Camp. (TNA)