Thai Army chief Prayuth stands against 'illegal' BRN demands

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Prayuth stands against 'illegal' BRN demands
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has taken a tough position against meeting any illegal demands from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), which had earlier entered into a peace dialogue with the government.

Prayuth refused to say which of the five conditions set by the BRN was unacceptable to the military, but added that illegal proposals were hard to accept.

The Army chief will be among the military top brass joining a meeting today called by Deputy Prime Minister Pol General Pracha Promnog, who is in charge of security, to discuss the five demands by the BRN. The meeting is being held on the instructions of Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

He said the country should take time to discuss the five demands and he did not want to quickly resolve any of them.

"We must be careful not to let foreign countries get involved in our internal affairs. We must make sure that they remain as facilitators.''

"We have to explain [in the meeting] which issues are illegal and which are just unfounded allegations such as claims that violent incidents were created by authorities,'' he said.

Prayuth said the PM had ordered that if there was evidence that the authorities were involved in an attack or had assaulted innocents, they must be harshly punished.

Meanwhile, a teacher of an Islamic religious private school (pondok), identified as Kumaidi Musor, 37, was shot dead in Pattani's Nong Chik district with an M16 rifle. Six bullets were fired into his torso and one bullet into his head.

He was shot while driving a sedan on his way to teach at the school as usual. Witnesses said five men in a pickup sprayed bullets at his car.

In Yala, two soldiers were slightly injured in a bomb attack not far from Ban Wang Hin School in Bannang Sata district.


-- The Nation 2013-08-22

[notmyself]

Wouldn't be surprised if all 5 demands are illegal.

[tomross46]

What is it the BRN want? No I do not think what they say is what they want. What they say is only a stepping stone to the desired outcome. The government can not be weak, because other countries will be looking at taking Thai territory.

[simple1]

What is it the BRN want? No I do not think what they say is what they want. What they say is only a stepping stone to the desired outcome. The government can not be weak, because other countries will be looking at taking Thai territory.

What is the BRN's desired outcome and what other countries are looking at taking Thai terrority. The only one I'm aware of is a territory despute with Cambodia over a temple location.