Following recent bombings in the restive Deep South, the military government has announced that the state of emergency in the region will be extended.
On 13 September 2016, the Royal Gazette Website published an announcement of the military government titled ‘The Extension of the State of Emergency in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat except Mae Lan District [of Pattani]’.
The announcement was approved by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and his cabinet.
It states that the ‘state of emergency’ will be extended for the next three months at least from 20 September onwards to quell violence and threats against national security in the region.
The military government invoked authorities under Article 5 and 11 of 2005 Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation Act to decleared the extension of the state of emergency.
Earlier in June, the cabinet announced similar order to extend the state of emergency in the region.
In Thailand’s restive Deep South, where Martial Law and the Emergency Decree have been imposed to quell insurgent groups for more than a decade, security authorities can arrest and detain suspects of crimes against national security without arrest warrants.
With such authorities, security personnel in many cases committee violation of human rights and are rarely held accountable for their actions.
Predominantly Muslim Malay, the region, composed of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla, has been pervaded by armed conflict for the past decade which has claimed almost 6,500 lives.