PM reiterates royal guidelines for Thai far South

BANGKOK, January 31 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has suggested that all security agencies concerned keep following His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's guidelines on accessing to and understanding people in Thailand's violence-plagued far South, as well as introducing development projects for them. Yingluck on Thursday reiterated her government's stance on following His Majesty the King's advice when calling a meeting of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) in Bangkok to be briefed on the ISOC's operations last year and to lay down her administration's security policies this year, focused on solutions to the troubled deep South. During the meeting, Yingluck, in her capacity as the ISOC chief, was informed that there were more villages in the southernmost Thai region appearing to be safe from insurgency last year as there were no reports of any violent incident, which is considered a good sign. Regarding drug problems, the prime minister was reported that more than 1,000 strong villages against narcotics have been set up along border areas in 30 Thai provinces, with 70 of them having been proven successful in drug prevention and suppression. As for groups of people deemed affecting national security, namely illegal Rohingya immigrants from neighbouring Myanmar, the Thai premier was reported that more than 2,800 Rohingya Muslims had been intercepted, while assistance had been provided to 95,000 refugees in nine temporary shelters located along the western Thai border, and security agencies concerned are working together to assist them and to tailor control measures, in parallel with maintaining order. (TNA)