Thai Cabinet nods for 60-day ISA extension

BANGKOK, April 28 (TNA) - The Cabinet has approved a 60-day extended enforcement of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in all areas in Bangkok and some targeted areas in nearby provinces, after it expires on April 30, 2014, in order to handle both anti and pro-government demonstrators and, probably, any attempt to create unrest by a third party. Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanatabutr, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC), told journalists of the Cabinet's decision on Monday, as proposed by the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), after the Cabinet's weekly meeting earlier in the day. Lieutenant General Paradorn assessed that the ISA imposition should be enough to control the situation. Meanwhile, Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, in his capacity as the CAPO's chief adviser, said that the Cabinet also agreed with the CAPO to reduce the number of soldiers handling demonstrators to 3,000-4,000, but deploying more police because soldiers are prohibited from carrying firearms and were, thus, attacked relating to domestic political protests. Surapong stated that the CAPO will also try to arrest 80 leaders of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) and expects Bangkok's Criminal Court will approve arrest warrants against the PDRC leaders for insurrection charges on May 10, 2014. In response to PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban's plan to, again, block Thailand's next general election, Surapong opined that Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who recently proposed to work out a national solution, should first talk to Suthep, a former Democrat deputy prime minister, as Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is ready for talks with Abhisit. Suthep, in the meantime, led his supporters to persuade employees of Thailand Tobacco Monopoly (TTM), the 8th Thai state enterprise PDRC demonstrators have visited, to join his group's demand for the resignation of the caretaker government and for a national reform before the next general election. (TNA)