Seven strategies to be carried on in Thai far South

BANGKOK, August 15 (TNA) - Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered the continual implementation of seven security strategies in the violence-plagued Thai far South and insisted on her government's maintaining peace negotiations with representatives of insurgent groups, led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgency movement. Government Spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi told journalists on Thursday that Premier Yingluck made the order when chairing a meeting of a government committee on the implementation of policies and strategies to solve problems in the Thai deep South, held at the Ministry of Defence in Bangkok earlier in the day. Teerat said that the seven security strategies include connecting 8,309 old and new surveillance cameras to a control centre, the deployment of more paramilitary rangers in the region, strengthening security of business areas in seven major zones, and the procurement of special equipment, namely bomb and mobile phone jammers and X-ray machines, set to be delivered in November 2013. According to the spokesman, the prime minister also proposed that the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) work out an action plan and set a timetable for the implementation of the seven strategies in order that operations and progress can be monitored and praised news releases in response to latest developments to benefit local people. Regarding progress of the ongoing peace process with the BRN, the spokesman noted that the BRN group is waiting for the Thai government’s responses to its five demands, and that Thursday's meeting also acknowledged Hassan Taib remains as the BRN negotiator. (TNA)