http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f22a518a-1115-11da-adc0-00000e2511c8.html
Thai PM defies Islamic militants By Tony Cheng in Narathiwat and Amy Kazmin in Bangkok Published: August 20 2005 03:00 | Last updated: August 20 2005 03:00 Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, yesterday travelled to his country's troubled Muslim south, defying the death threats of separatist Islamic militants by engaging in a quintessential Thai activity: shopping. Flanked by 40 well armed and armoured soldiers and security men, Mr Thaksin, accompanied by one of Thailand's leading actresses, strolled around Narathiwat's central market buying snacks, chatting with vendors and posing for photos. His public show of shopping bravado was intended to bolster public confidence in the Muslim-majority region, where terrified local businesspeople have been shutting up their shops and stalls on Fridays, after anonymous flyers circulated in local markets warned those working on the Islamic holy day would be punished by death. Moving through the bazaar, Mr Thaksin sought to reassure jittery southerners - and the rest of the Thai population watching the scenes on television - that they need not fear the Islamist insurgency and security force reprisals that have claimed more than 900 lives in the south since January 2004. "We now have the situation under control," Mr Thaksin told the Financial Times. "The general public now understands. We're getting co-operation, we are issuing arrest warrants and we are making arrests every day." Bangkok is waging an intensifying battle to crush an increasingly sophisticated Malay Muslim separatist insurgency in the south, which was recently declared an emergency zone where authorities could use enhanced powers to try to end the violence. Separatist militants have demonstrated a growing hold on the local population, crippling normal life with flyers telling them not to work on Fridays or, for reasons that are unclear, even Thursdays. In response, Mr Thaksin has urged merchants to defy the threats and keep their businesses open. He had also appealed to Muslim community leaders to declare that working on Fridays did not violate Islamic principles. Yet most of the vendors selling goods to Mr Thaksin and his vast entourage during yesterday's highly choreographed excursion were not local people, but rather traders from out of town, including many who travelled overnight from the capital, Bangkok, as part of the government's effort to entice southern shoppers back to market on Fridays. Hundreds of local people queued up to buy heavily subsidised goods on offer during Mr Thaksin's visit. The region's economy is faltering as a result of the tensions and demand was fierce for the rice, cooking oil, sugar and other staples distributed by soldiers. The severity of the challenge still confronting the security forces was highlighted by the discovery of two remote-controlled fertiliser bombs, packed with nails, at a Catholic school not far from another market on Mr Thaksin's itinerary. Though the bombs were defused, security forces said they were powerful enough to have blown up a two-storey building. As Mr Thaksin travelled through the region, his entourage was followed by an army truck equipped with mobile phone signal jammers to prevent any bombs from being detonated in the vicinity. Dan [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://www.terror-hunters.com/> www.terror-hunters.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h27s4nv/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124850703/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? 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