Muslim World League chief to visit Thailand

BANGKOK, September 15 (TNA) - Secretary-General to the Muslim World League (MWL) Al-Turki is scheduled to visit Thailand early next week, during which he will be briefed on the updated situation in the Thai violence-plagued far South. Deputy Prime Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa, who visited the Thai deep South on Friday, told journalists that the government is speeding up the surrender of insurgents behind violent unrest in the Thai deep South so that the positive development can be presented to MWL chief after he arrives in Thailand on September 17 to show the Thai administration's peaceful solutions and human rights protection. General Yuthasak, who oversees national security, said that his Friday's visit to the southernmost Yala Province is to prompt Commanding General of the 4th Army Area Command Lieutenant General Udomchai Thammasarorat to speed up the process for the surrender of insurgents wanted under arrest warrants. General Yuthasak acknowledged if the process was delayed, hardcore insurgents could, otherwise, convince potential defectors to change their mind and fewer people would turn themselves in to authorities. The deputy prime minister insisted that nearly 100 people who surrendered to the 4th army area command chief earlier this week were real insurgents and were “big names”, dismissing some academics' remarks that the potential defectors were fake. According to the deputy premier, the Thai government will soon have the surrender reported to the public to prove that it is real. (TNA)