PM, DPM to visit Thai Far South

BANGKOK, July 21 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan will visit the Thai Far South early next week to follow up updates in all aspects. General Prawit, who oversees national security, told journalists on Thursday that he and the prime minister will visit Narathiwat Province in the southernmost Thai region on July 25. "Although the prime minister barely has spare times, he'll visit the Thai Deep South to follow up progress of all operations he has earlier assigned", General Prawit said. The Thai deputy premier's remarks followed his meeting with more than 100 religious leaders from the southern border region at the government's guesthouse, Baan Kesakomol, in Bangkok earlier in the day. During the meeting, the deputy premier revealed, the religious leaders gave moral support to the prime minister, who is also Chief of the Thai army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and his government, while expressing their desire for the restoration of peace and order in the violence-plagued Thai Far South. According to the deputy prime minister, both sides also discussed the government's moves to provide education and occupations for locals to earn their living. Besides, the religious leaders asked government authorities to help solve drug problems in the southernmost Thai region. (TNA)