The hour-long meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, approved the one-year extension of the ISA covering four districts of Songkhla - Na Thawee, Saba Yoi, Thepha and Chana - and Mae Lan district in Pattani.
Nine cabinet
ministers joined the meeting including Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung,
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Deputy Prime Minister and Education
Minister Phongthep Thepkanchana, Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat and
Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan.
Ms Yingluck
said the cabinet also addressed beefing up security for teachers in the restive
South and expected teachers' fears to ease.
She said
security measures for each school may be different and authorities will have to
discuss them with school executives on a case-by-case basis.
"If any
school believes its staff are at risk, the government is ready to discuss and
assign authorities concerned to look into it," Ms Yingluck said.
Mr Chalerm said
the prime minister has assigned ACM Sukumpol to supervise the operation's implementation
in the far South while Ms Yingluck is in charge of policy and overall
administration.
Mr Chalerm said
he is acting as deputy chairman of the southern border provinces command
centre.
Ms Yingluck has
instructed the cabinet to review enforcement of the emergency decree in the
restive South and study a gradual lifting if possible, he said.
The enforcement
of the edict covering 33 southern districts will expire in mid-December.
Government
spokesman Tossaporn Serirak said that Ms Yingluck has also asked the National
Security Council and the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) to study
the possibility of replacing the emergency decree with the ISA.
Meanwhile,
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said he
would ask Malaysia to help tackle the southern unrest.
The issue will
be raised during Joint Commission talks on Dec 14-15 in Phuket chaired by Mr
Surapong and his Malaysian counterpart, Anifah Aman.
He said
Malaysia previously held peace talks to help the Philippines tackle its
internal conflict, but he did not know in detail how it helped.
In a related
development, the Isoc committee chaired by Mr Chalerm yesterday approved a
proposal seeking to restructure Isoc Region 4, Isoc spokesman Lt Gen Dissaporn
Sasasamit said.
The spokesman
said the restructuring is in line with the introduction of a special command
centre which was set up to coordinate intelligence and operations among
different agencies.
The committee
also approved the appointments of Gen Nipon Parannit, Gen Sanan Maroengsit, Gen
Noppadon Watthanothai and Lt Gen Thanayos Sirikul as advisers to Isoc.
(bangkokpost.com)