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Thailland should extend sate of emergency
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2010, Tuesday
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THAILAND should maintain a state of emergency imposed during recent bloody political protests, an office set up to handle the crisis said today, hours before the government was due to consider extending it.
Anti-government protests by supporters of an ousted prime minister turned violent in April and May. Ninety people were killed and almost 2,000 wounded, raising fears for stability and growth in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Calm has been restored although foreign investors in the important US ally remain wary.
Critics say while the government calls for reconciliation between deeply divided political blocs it is stifling opposition with arrests, censorship and emergency rule in the capital and 23 of the country's 76 provinces.
Businesses and rights groups are calling for the dropping of the special law, which has unnerved some investors and tourists, when a decree under which it was imposed expires on Wednesday.
The government is due to consider it on Tuesday amid speculation it could be ended in some areas, although not in Bangkok and main bastions of support for Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup.
GOVERNMENT GROUP SEEKS BLANKET EXTENSION
But the government's crisis control group, the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), said it was pushing for a blanket extension on worry that instigators could stir trouble.
"We are recommending that the cabinet extends the state of emergency in all 24 provinces. It's now up to the government, the cabinet, to deliberate," said the centre's spokesman, Sansern Kaewkamnerd, referring to the 23 provinces and Bangkok.
"The CRES believe the situation remains volatile with attempts to distort information, to instigate the crowd in some areas. Some people involved in the violence are still on the run while others may attempt to operate underground."
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said on Monday Thailand should immediately lift the emergency to promote reconciliation, or frustration could lead to more violence.
The government has accused Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon turned populist politician who is living in self-exile, of instigating the weeks of protests by his red-clad supporters. Many of his backers are rural and urban poor.
They say an undemocratic royalist- and military-linked establishment unfairly forced their champion from power.
Thaksin has been charged with terrorism in connection with shadowy black-clad gunmen who mingled with the protesters and occasionally battled security forces, raising the prospect of a country sliding into civil war.
Thaksin, convicted of graft after he was ousted, denies any connection with the gunmen or financing the protest.
The emergency bans political gatherings of more than five people and forbids the publishing and broadcasting of information deemed a threat to national security or that could cause panic.
Anti-government protests by supporters of an ousted prime minister turned violent in April and May. Ninety people were killed and almost 2,000 wounded, raising fears for stability and growth in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
Calm has been restored although foreign investors in the important US ally remain wary.
Critics say while the government calls for reconciliation between deeply divided political blocs it is stifling opposition with arrests, censorship and emergency rule in the capital and 23 of the country's 76 provinces.
Businesses and rights groups are calling for the dropping of the special law, which has unnerved some investors and tourists, when a decree under which it was imposed expires on Wednesday.
The government is due to consider it on Tuesday amid speculation it could be ended in some areas, although not in Bangkok and main bastions of support for Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup.
GOVERNMENT GROUP SEEKS BLANKET EXTENSION
But the government's crisis control group, the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), said it was pushing for a blanket extension on worry that instigators could stir trouble.
"We are recommending that the cabinet extends the state of emergency in all 24 provinces. It's now up to the government, the cabinet, to deliberate," said the centre's spokesman, Sansern Kaewkamnerd, referring to the 23 provinces and Bangkok.
"The CRES believe the situation remains volatile with attempts to distort information, to instigate the crowd in some areas. Some people involved in the violence are still on the run while others may attempt to operate underground."
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said on Monday Thailand should immediately lift the emergency to promote reconciliation, or frustration could lead to more violence.
The government has accused Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon turned populist politician who is living in self-exile, of instigating the weeks of protests by his red-clad supporters. Many of his backers are rural and urban poor.
They say an undemocratic royalist- and military-linked establishment unfairly forced their champion from power.
Thaksin has been charged with terrorism in connection with shadowy black-clad gunmen who mingled with the protesters and occasionally battled security forces, raising the prospect of a country sliding into civil war.
Thaksin, convicted of graft after he was ousted, denies any connection with the gunmen or financing the protest.
The emergency bans political gatherings of more than five people and forbids the publishing and broadcasting of information deemed a threat to national security or that could cause panic.
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