DAR AL HARB-THAILAND: INDEPENDENCE FOR JIHADIST INFESTED PROVINCES

Thai govt mulling self-rule for Muslim provinces

(BANGKOK) Thailand is considering granting partial autonomy to its Muslim-majority provinces, which for the past four years have been the scene of a bloody Islamic insurgency, the new interior minister said yesterday.

More than 2,900 people have been killed since early 2004 in nearly daily drive-by shootings and bombings that have swept the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, the only ones with Muslim majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.

A recent escalation in violence presents a major challenge to Thailand's new government, which took office last week. Military and political measures imposed by previous governments had little success in curbing the violence.

While conceding that some degree of self-rule in the south 'is a possibility', Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobambrung said independence for the region was out of the question.

'Thailand is one state that can't be divided, but we must find a way to make the situation better,' he said. 'We can't sit still and wait to be killed.'

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, whose Cabinet was sworn in last week, refrained from commenting on the matter, saying autonomy was a 'delicate issue'.

'We want to hear from senior officials, including military officers, on the situation in the region before we come up with any policy,' said Mr Samak, who is also defence minister.

Despite a lull in southern violence in the second half of 2007, it has surged again this year.

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