NSC chief confident in peace negotiations with BRN-led insurgents

BANGKOK, June 12 (TNA) - National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanathabutr has expressed his confidence in his peace negotiations with representatives of insurgent groups in the Thai far South, led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgency movement, on June 13. Lieutenant General Paradorn told journalists on Wednesday that the NSC's call for reduced violence in the Thai deep South, as well as five demands of the BRN and locals’ feedbacks on the demands will be raised at Thursday’s talks, but hearings to sound out local people’s feedbacks will continue for several more rounds. Lieutenant General Paradorn said he wishes the talks will lead to the identification of insurgents behind ongoing violent incidents and better solutions to the troubled Thai far South. According to the NSC chief, he will show the list of those over 1,000 wanted under the Thai government's executive decree on public administration in emergency situations, the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Criminal Procedure Code during Thursday's third-round talks to prove that the Thai administration is sincere and ready to facilitate justice when they turn themselves in to have their arrest warrants revoked. The NSC chief acknowledged, however, that he will not raise the proposed special administrative zone, recently aired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, during the June 13 peace talks, and that the proposed special administrative zone appears to refer to an administration in which local people participate in developing peace in compliance with the Thai Constitution, not a territorial separation the BRN has eyed. (TNA)