Thai govt offers amnesty to militants; seeks OIC support

Bangkok, May 1 (UNI) Thailand's military-backed government tonight announced an amnesty offer to militants in the country's Muslim-majority southern border region timed with the visit of the chief of the global forum of Islamic nations.

The announcement came soon after the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in a joint statement with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs "reiterated" that the violence in south Thailand is "not a religious conflict, but a conflict that is related to political, civil, and socio-economic rights".

A subsequent statement issued by the Thai foreign ministry said the Thai Prime Minister had decided to grant amnesty to the insurgents.

'' The government will propose to parliament that amnesty be granted to all persons who have been involved in the ongoing violence in the Southern Border Provinces provided they did not commit an offense under the country's Criminal Code," it said.

'' We have taken the opportunity of the visit of the OIC Secretary-General to inform him of this latest development and he has expressed his appreciation and support," the statement added.

The amnesty offer is a "concrete expression of our firm commitment to promoting reconciliation in the area," the government further said.

Earlier, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nitya Pibulsonggram in a joint statement summed up the outcome of the OIC delegation's visit to Thailand ahead of the OIC foreign ministers' conference in Islamabad in mid-May where the Thai foreign minister will be present.

''The OIC delegation noted with satisfaction that Thai Muslims throughout the country, including those in the Southern Border Provinces, enjoy full freedom in exercising their religious rights as do the Thais of other religions,'' the joint statement read.

The Thai government and OIC agreed on ''constructive cooperation with a view to enabling the people of the Southern Border Provinces to assume the responsibilities over their domestic affairs through a decentralization process that allows the people to practice their own cultural and linguistic faiths and manage their natural resources in full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Thailand''.

The over four-year-old insurgency in Thailand's southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, which has claimed more than 2,100 lives was the main agenda and the OIC expressed its support for the Thai government's handling of the militancy.

Among the measures being taken by the Thai government to promote reconciliation and peace in the Muslim-majority region are inclusion of Islamic subjects in local state-owned schools' curricula and "measures to enhance the application of Sharia Law to family-related cases in the Southern Border Provinces".

UNI