Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul has
sent a letter to OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
concerning violence against southern teachers.
The letter, dated 28 December 2012, stated that during the past six weeks
in the deep South, perpetrators had killed five teachers and wounded another
three. They had also set two schools on fire.
Human Rights Watch Asia strongly condemned the attacks and called on the
insurgents to immediately end all attacks on teachers and schools. It said that
insurgents in southern Thailand who executed teachers showed utter depravity
and disregard for humanity. These attacks harmed not only teachers and schools,
but also the Muslim students, their families, and the broader Muslim community
the insurgents claimed to represent.
The Thai government has stepped up security measures to increase protection
for teachers and ensure that local students would be able to have access to
education on a continual basis, without fear of any dangers. It pledged to do
everything possible to bring wrongdoers to justice for punishment in accordance
with the judicial process.
The Government attaches urgent priority to resolving the situation in the
southern border provinces, and has constructively engaged and cooperated with
the OIC on this issue.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Phongthep
Thepkanjana said that security personnel, the Southern Border Provinces
Administrative Center, the Ministry of Education, and the Confederation of
Teachers of Southern Border Provinces are working together on security measures
for southern teachers.
A number of graduate volunteers have been recruited to help teach students
and conduct school activities in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and four districts
of Songkhla. Mr. Phongthep said that the project would help ease the shortage
of teaching personnel in the deep South, which has been affected by unrest
since 2004. These graduate volunteers would also play a role in strengthening
relations between local schools and students through various activities.
The southern unrest erupted nine years ago, when a group of perpetrators on
4 January 2004 launched raids on a military camp in Narathiwat, attempting to
attack authorities, seize government firearms, and instigate instability.
Following the arms theft, the three southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala,
and Narathiwat, and some districts of Songkhla, became the scenes of continuing
violence. A number of teachers were killed and local schools were also set on
fire by a network of perpetrators.
(thailand.prd.go.th)