By Thai Newsroom Reporters
HIGH-LEVEL GOVERNMENT officials will be summoned to testify at the House of Representatives over a chronic failure to bring any suspects in the Tak Bai manslaughter case to justice.
House Extraordinary Committee on Southern Border Peace spokesperson Pannika Wanich said today (Oct. 17) the planned testimony over 2004’s manslaughter of 85 southern protesters by army troops in Narathiwat is scheduled to be held at parliament on Oct. 24 whilst the 20-year litigation period for the historic case is ending the next day.
The high-level government officials who will be summoned to testify before the House panel over the sustained failure to arrest a total of 14 criminal suspects in the Tak Bai incident include Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, National Security Council Secretary-General Chatchai Bangchuad and Fourth Army Region Commander Lt.Gen.Paisal Noosang, according to the committee spokesperson.
None of those suspects in the manslaughter case have been arrested since the last couple of decades, however.
Those suspects include former Fourth Army Region commander Pisal Watanawongkhiri who has reportedly fled the country to evade arrest and recently resigned as Pheu Thai MP, among other former high-ranking government officials who have yet remained at large.
Pannika said the chronic insurgency situation and unrest in the southernmost provinces, namely Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, might possibly intensify upon the end of the Tak Bai incident’s litigation period in the next eight days, prompting the relevant authorities to map out preventive measures and maintain public order and peace in the turbulent Deep South region.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: A Thai Muslim student holds a protest placard as she marks the Tak Bai 10th anniversary of the deaths of scores of anti-government protesters in October 2004, at the central mosque in Pattani province on 25 October 2014. Photo: AFP/Tuwaedaniya Meringing and published by Daily Tribune
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