Insurgency movements in Thai Far South urged to join peace talks

BANGKOK, September 9 (TNA) - The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has called for insurgency movements in the Thai Far South to join an ongoing peace negotiation process, facilitated by Kuala Lumpur. ISOC Spokesman Colonel Banpote Punpian, who is also a deputy spokesman of the Thai government's peace negotiation team, made the call on Wednesday, urging insurgents in the Thai Deep South to stop their propagandas and stir violent acts, but joining peace talks through their representatives to peacefully resolve ideological conflicts in the southern border Thai region. The spokesman stressed that the Thai government has sincerely and seriously tried to solve problems in the violence-plagued southernmost Thai region in all dimensions and informal talks with high-level representatives of insurgency groups were making progress with both sides being at a stage of building mutual trust. The spokesman noted that the ongoing peace negotiation process receives cooperation from groups of people with different stances and support from the mass media, local people, academics and the civil society, but some violence-oriented groups which are clearly serving their own interest and ignoring the losses of people are trying to block the peace talk process. The ISOC spokesman's remarks were in response to a 5.55-minute-long video clip claimed to have been recently released by a leader of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgency movement, Abdulkarim Khalid, accusing the Thai government of insincerity. In the video clip, Khalid reportedly urged members to fights against Thai authorities, doubted the Thai government and opposed the peace negotiation process, aimed to restore peace in the Thai Far South. The spokesman said, the Thai authorities, in turn, doubted the status of people producing the clip and considered that they disagreed with peace negotiations and continued to use online media to attract attention. The spokesman pointed out if those behind the video clip really represent ethnic minorities and are trying to justify their violent attacks in the Thai Deep South, they are showing that misled people who were earlier invited to launch untoward incidents remain confused and do not understand peaceful solutions. (TNA)