July 17, 2007: The military
has quietly abandoned attempts to solve the Islamic terrorism problem in the
south with negotiation and other non-violent methods. No one would negotiate,
and the terrorists (backed by some of the powerful criminal gangs in the
region) were killing any Moslems who tried to cooperate. The military is now
using the traditional methods, which have worked in the past, but are now
considered barbaric in many parts of the world. Police and troops have rounded
up several hundred suspects and used torture and execution to get leads on who
is behind the terror campaign. In the last three years, about 2,400 have
died in the south, most of them civilians, and the majority of them
non-Moslems, whom the terrorists want to drive from the area. The other dead
civilians were Moslems who tried to cooperate with police to get the terrorists
arrested and prosecuted. The new police tactics are illegal under Thai law, and
the government is trying to get a new law passed that will legalize some of the
"emergency" measures. This bothers a lot of Thais, because the
military is now running the country as a dictatorship until new elections can
be held, and there is some suspicion that the generals want to stay in charge
for longer than they said they would. Opposition to military rule is growing.
But at the same time, violent police measures are tolerated in the south,
because the terror attacks against civilians continues. Terrorists who are
identified, one way or another, are being sent through the judicial system, if
only to convince people that the real culprits have been brought to
justice.
July 16, 2007: Near the
border with Malaysia, Islamic terrorists blocked the main road into the
province in 30 places, with felled trees or spikes tossed on the road. It took
several hundred police about three hours to clear all the obstacles. At least
one group of terrorists is making more attacks on transportation, without much
effect, instead of murdering civilians.
