Ex-army chief warns of major insurgency in Thailand
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A former army commander has warned that Thailand could face a rebellion on the scale of its 1970s communist insurgency that killed thousands if the government continues its heavy-handed crackdown on Muslim militants in the south, news reports said Tuesday.
Surayud Chulanont, a highly respected ex-military officer who now advises the king, said Muslims complained to him about unjust treatment at the hands of government authorities during a recent visit to the country's restive southern provinces.
More than 650 people were killed last year and confrontation between Muslim separatists and the government is escalating. Suspected rebels last week launched their first car bomb attack amid speculation that local Muslims are forging connections with international terrorists.
"This long-standing and bitter problem has become chronic. If this wound is not healed properly, it will grow to become a malignant tumor that cannot be cured,'' Surayud was quoted by the English-language The Nation newspaper as saying.
His remarks, made to a group of reporters during a provincial trip last Saturday, were confirmed Tuesday by an aide to the retired general.
"Thailand had a problem like this before.
"This will be the second time. The first time was the communist movement. Simply put, there was injustice in the country and it created conditions for communism to grow,'' Surayud said.
The China-backed communists grew strong in the 1970s after thousands of university students and villagers fled into the jungles to join the rebels, who grew to a force of some 12,000 guerrillas. Several thousand people were killed in the fighting.
A general government amnesty in 1980 and Beijing's withdrawal of support for the insurgents led to the movement's demise.
Surayud, a member of the Privy Council which advises King Bhumibol Adulyadej, toured the southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani earlier this month with Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn.
The much-revered Bhumibol was a key architect of a non-military solution to fighting the communists and is believed to favour a similar approach in the south.
During Surayud's visit, local people also raised the issue of Somchai Neelaphajit, a Muslim lawyer who disappeared after defending Muslims suspected of involvement in the insurgency.
The government has failed to find his abductors. Surayud suggested that the justice system should ensure fair treatment to both sides to prevent one side from feeling it was being oppressed.
Muslims in the south have taken up arms several times in modern history, seeking a separate state from Buddhist-dominated Thailand.
During the last major upheaval, a rebel group known as the Pattani United Liberation Organization commanded more than 20,000 armed guerrillas.
But the rebels dispersed after a government amnesty in the early 1980s.
The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has adopted a tough approach to the current rebellion, recently warning that development funds would be cut off for so-called "red zones'' deemed to be sympathetic to the insurgents.
"This matter is sensitive. People might think they are being segregated. If this feeling is abused, it's like throwing oil onto a fire,'' Surayud said of the zoning concept. - AP
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