Thai authorities join peace talks in far South

YALA, March 30 (TNA) - Authorities concerned met in the Thai far South on Saturday to discuss ways to create reconciliation and peace in the troubled region. More than 500 people, including Pattani Islamic Committee chairman Waeduramae Maningji, as well as Islamic school teachers and Thai Buddhists, also attended the talks, led by the authorities concerned, including Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanathabutr, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC), and Police Colonel Thawee Sodsong, Secretary-General of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC). Waeduramae told reporters that every party in the troubled Thai deep South was invited to attend the talks so that they would understand the first round of peace talks between the Thai government, through the NSC, and representatives of insurgent groups, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, on March 28. On demands made by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group that the Thai government offers justice to insurgents, Waeduramae said he has learned that the authorities concerned have contacted the Attorney General and related government agencies to handle the request soonest, expressing his optimism that peace could be restored in the Thai far South if justice could be offered to the insurgents. Several demands were made by insurgents at March 28 talks and the Thai and insurgent representatives agreed to meet again in Kuala Lumpur on April 29, 2013. Meanwhile, a key insurgent, identified as 34-year-old Abdulloh Pula, was arrested by local police while he was hiding in a rubber plantation in Tharn To District of Thailand's southernmost Yala Province on early Saturday morning. According to the police, Abdulloh is a bomb-making expert and Yala's police had earlier issued an arrest warrant against him. The alleged insurgent has reportedly denied the charges pending a final judicial verdict (TNA)