Thais urged to stay calm during verbal testimony on Preah Vihear

BANGKOK, April 6 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul has urged patriotic Thais to stay calm while Cambodian and Thai legal experts deliver their final verbal statements before the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a case earlier filed by Phnom Penh regarding a contentious area surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple from April 15-19, 2013. Surapong said on Saturday that people have their full constitutional rights to assemble but their gathering is to be peaceful and wrong information is not to be given to agitate the public in order to create problems along the two countries’ border. Surapong’s remarks followed updated reports that patriotic Thais planned to assemble in Kantharalak District of Si Sa Ket Province in the Thai Northeast bordering Cambodia, days before and during legal experts of the two neighbouring countries give their final verbal statements to the ICJ in the Netherlands. The deputy premier told journalists that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs will set up a “war room” at the ministry and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will also have a similar facility set up at Bangkok's Government House to closely monitor the final verbal statements, which will be telecast live to Thailand. The World Court is expected to issue its final verdict on the case late this year on the unsettled 4.6 square-kilometer area surrounding the ancient Preah Vihear Temple, in response to Phnom Penh's request that the World Court interpret its verdict in 1962, which awarded the Hindu temple to Cambodia. Meanwhile, Thai authorities have ordered a temporary closure of Khao Phra Viharn National Park, Thailand's access to the Preah Vihear Temple, as of 6am today as a precaution, after there were reports that a caravan of patriotic Thais planned to move to the Thai border national park to claim Thailand's ownership of the Preah Vihear Temple.(TNA)