Junta extends ‘state of emergency’ in restive Deep South

Amidst the fallout of recent bombings in the restive Deep South, the military government has extended the state of emergency in the region.

On 13 September 2016, the Royal Gazette website published an announcement from the military government titled ‘The Extension of the State of Emergency in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat except Mae Lan District [of Pattani]’.The announcement was approved by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and his cabinet.

It states that the ‘state of emergency’ in the Deep South will be extended for the next three months, from at least from 20 September onwards, to quell violence and threats against national security in the region.

The military government invoked authority under Articles 5 and 11 of the 2005 Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation Act to extend the state of emergency. In Thailand’s restive Deep South, where Martial Law and the Emergency Decree have been imposed to quell insurgent groups for more than a decade, security authorities can arrest and detain persons suspected of crimes against national security without arrest warrants.  

With such authority, security personnel in many cases commit violations of human rights and are rarely held accountable for their actions.

Earlier in June, the cabinet announced a similar order to extend the state of emergency in the region.

Predominantly Muslim Malay, the region, composed of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla, has been pervaded by armed conflict for the past decade which has claimed almost 6,500 lives.

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