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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Pertinent Links:

1) Thai govt mulling self-rule for Muslim provinces

DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - THAILAND: MSM'S, MOSLEM TERROR AND SCHOOLS BEING LEGITIMATE TARGETS FOR MOSLEM TERROR ATTACKS

FT: SCHOOLS ARE LEGITIMATE TERRORIST TARGETS
by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Sometimes I believe I live in the world of Alice in Wonderland. Today's Financial Times Amy Kazmin writes an article entitled Thai Islamic insurgency escalates. I would think that escalation would mean that terrorist moved from targeting soldiers, policemen or other public officials to targeting civilians or worse of all, women and children. For Ms. Kazmin attacking schools, i.e., buildings, teachers, librarians and perhaps even students is legitimate because they are symbols of the state:

Rebel attacks once mainly targeted government officials and symbols of the state, such as schools. But targets now include any member of the area's ethnic Thai Buddhist minority and Muslims perceived as hostile to the separatist cause. With the state still unable to provide basic security, analysts also fret about the danger of unrestrained sectarian conflict between Muslim and Buddhist residents of the region.

With such MSM ideological support, it is a small wonder that Islamist terrorists adopted a strategy of attacking schools. Not only are they not condemned for such attacks but central governments are held responsible for their failure to "to provide basic security" to an area. Sophistry employed to justify Palestinian transgressions and later Iraqi ones have led MSM to provide an ideological cover for murderers of young Buddhist teachers lacking appropriate connections to avoid assignment in the dangerous Muslim south where Ms. Kazmin says they serve as symbols of the state.

Time and again, MSM self righteously argues that the war on terror should not be fought exclusively with military means. The truth is that it is MSM ideological shilling for the Islamists which enables them to recruit young idealists. Instead of holding terrorists feet to the fire, MSM does everything in its power to present them as brave warriors employing legitimate, if necessarily brutal force to overcome Fascist states.

The fact that Thailand is ruled by a Muslim general who overthrew an elected government partially in order to appease his Southern coreligionists means nothing to the like of Ms. Kazmin or her fellow members of the international elite which includes HRW experts. Nor does the fact that his appeasement efforts led to what appeasement invariably leads to, an escalation in the fighting. They argue that the Thai government did not do enough appeasing. As far as MSM is concerned the governments are always to blame; terrorists never.

Since then, the military-installed government has publicly apologized to southern Muslims for past state abuses, pledged to pursue a policy of reconciliation and negotiations and tried to strengthen the capacity of state agencies dealing with the conflict.

But Sunai Phasuk, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the government had "failed to translate his promises and policy guidelines into an operational strategy, so troops on the ground can understand and follow policy shifts". In the meantime, he said, "violence is spinning out of control", while authorities struggle to identify potential negotiating partners.

Although the rebels remain highly secretive and have no public voice articulating their aims, recent propaganda fliers left at the scene of attacks describe a religious struggle to liberate an Islamic land from "infidel" invaders and occupiers. Researchers believe that about two-thirds of the villages in the southern provinces have some residents actively involved in the insurgency.

There is a public voice, it is a Salafist one which wishes to have all lands once ruled by Muslims go back to Muslim hands. Apologies are useless without an agreement by the government to turn Southern Thailand into another Hamastan for eventual unification within a rejuvenated Khilafah. Note Graham Lees report on "Growing Links Seen Among Southeast Asian Islamists; Southern Thailand Affected."

Thus, while the intellectual elite believes it is working to avert war, its operating paradigm makes a military solution to Islamism the only viable option.
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Pertinent Links:

1) FT: SCHOOLS ARE LEGITIMATE TERRORIST TARGETS

DAR AL ISLAM - THAILAND: THE ISLAMIC/MOSLEM JIHAD RAGES IN THAILAND

Police blame insugents for Muslim policeman's death, torched schools in southern Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand: Police blamed Islamic insurgents for the killing of a Muslim policeman at a crowded outdoor market and the torching of several government offices and schools in restive southern Thailand on Thursday.

The policeman, Suriya Malaimal, was walking toward his motorcycle, parked at a market in Narathiwat's Rue So district, when at least six gunmen approached him and shot him at point-blank range more than ten times, said police Lt. Banlae Chuvet.

Shoppers fled in panic as the shots were fired and the attackers, who stole the victim's gun, disappeared in a van and on motorcycles, Banlae said, adding that Suriya was in uniform and did not draw his gun.

"Initial investigations show he was killed by Muslim insurgents," Banlae said, adding that the attack in the market was meant to cause fear and panic among civilians in the area.

Also Thursday, in neighboring Pattani province, arsonists torched two government schools and three government offices including two health clinics in Sai Buri district, said police Lt. Kumron Yodrak.

Kumron blamed Muslim insurgents for the arson attacks, saying the militants believe the government is trying to indoctrinate students with un-Islamic values at public schools. Teachers in southern Thailand are regularly attacked by suspected insurgents.

Separately, a roadside bomb exploded, injuring two policemen who had been deployed to protect teachers as they traveled to school in the Muang district of Yala province, police Lt. Poompetch Pipatpetpoom, adding that the blast was triggered by a mobile phone.

Thailand's southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been the scene of an Islamic insurgency that has led to more than 2,200 deaths in the past three years. Muslims form the majority in the area, but have long felt they are treated as second-class citizens in the Buddhist-dominated country.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Police blame insugents for Muslim policeman's death, torched schools in southern Thailand

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: CAMBODIAN MOSLEMS HEADED TO SOUTHERN THAILAND TO WAGE JIHAD, JIHAD, JIHAD ! ! !

Police arrest Muslim Cambodians enroute to Thai south

SA KAEO, June 6 (TNA) – Thai police nabbed 51 Cambodians for illegally entering Thailand on Wednesday, including eight Muslims en route to the violence-plagued southern border provinces.

Thai Army Rangers and provincial police arrested 48 Cambodians in the eastern province of Sa Kaeo, bordering Cambodia, at highway checkpoints there, while threemore Khmers were detained at the Aranyaprathet border crossing.

Of those arrested, eight are Muslims, traveling from Cambodia's Kampong Cham, who said they planned to go to Thailand's three southern border provinces to seek employment.

They told police that each paid 5,000 baht to middlemen to travel to work in Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.

The police are questioning them on suspicion of having a connection with Muslim insurgents in Thailand's restive south.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Police arrest Muslim Cambodians enroute to Thai south

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: THE THAI JIHAD CONTINUES, TRAINS DERAILED

Trains to Thai Muslim south halted after sabotage
By Sukree Sukplang

PATTANI, Thailand, Jun 4 (Reuters) - Thailand's state railway halted all train services in the rebellious Muslim far south on Monday after a derailment, probably caused by insurgents, injured 14 passengers and crew, a senior rail official said.

Suspected Muslim militants hit five tracks, removing nuts and bolts pinning the rails and loosening the connections between carriages, causing the derailment of one train, Tanongsak Pongprasert told Reuters by telephone.

"We have had to suspend all 18 train services from and to Hat Yai today as we have to check the damage to the tracks and take the derailed train out of the way after the sabotage," Tanongsak said.

The train was heading from Yala, one of three far southern provinces which have been the focus of the latest insurgency in the region which erupted in January 2004, to Hat Yai, the commercial centre of the south.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Trains to Thai Muslim south halted after sabotage

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: DHIMMITUDE ALERT FOR THAILAND

ISLAMIC STUDIES TEXTBOOK READY

A textbook on Islamic studies for elementary school students has been completed and will soon be available in 30 schools across Thailand, the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) in the Ministry of Education has announced. The initiative is part of a government programme aimed at boosting relations between the great majority of Buddhists and the Muslim minority, only 4 percent of the 66 million Thais, mainly living in the three southern districts of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

The book will be distributed in schools in the north and centre as well as in the three Muslim-majority provinces at the centre of violence sparked by Islamic separatist militants which has killed over 2,100 people since January 2004.

The government-sponsored initiative follows the launch of the first university course on Islamic studies outside Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. The course is held at the Rangsit university in the central province of Pathum Thani and the government has announced others will follow at different universities along with the institution of a school for imams.


For an excellent piece on what is happening in Thailand, please visit my American Infidel Must's page and read today's post titled Thailand: Islamist Insurgency with No End? (Parts One & Two) by Adrian Morgan which link to both parts one & two.


Also, if you would like more information concerning the JIHAD IN THAILAND, please review my other stories concerning Thailand, found here...


Pertinent Links:

1) ISLAMIC STUDIES TEXTBOOK READY

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP HAS NO CLUE WHAT A HUDNA IS, IF THEY DO THEY ARE COMPLICIT IN JIHAD

Thailand Must Push for Peace Talks in Muslim South, Group Says
By Ed Johnson

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand's government must push for peace talks with Muslim rebels in the south and persuade the country's majority Buddhist population to support a negotiated settlement to the conflict, the International Crisis Group said.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks in an attempt to derail negotiations and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's efforts to address Muslim grievances in southern provinces are unpopular in the rest of the country, the group said in a report.

``With only six months to go before elections, there are clear limits to what this government can achieve,'' Francesca Lawe-Davies, an analyst for the Brussels-based organization that tries to resolve conflicts, said yesterday. ``But it should use its remaining time to lay the groundwork for a serious political effort to bring peace to the region.''

Almost 1,900 people have been killed in near-daily attacks including shootings, bombings and beheadings since January 2004 in Thailand's three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia, according to Thai police. Authorities have blamed the violence on insurgents escalating a campaign for a separate Muslim state. Thailand's 65 million people are 95 percent Buddhist.
The government announced yesterday it will deploy about 2,000 more soldiers to the southern provinces to curb the insurgency. ``We will have to use force to protect our people as it appears those insurgents don't want to settle the violence with dialogue,'' Surayud said in Bangkok.

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MUHAMMAD AND THE TREATY OF HUDAYBIYYA
by Silas


ABSTRACT

During 628 A.D. Muhammad attempted to make a pilgrimage to the Kaba in Mecca. As he neared Meccan troops opposed him and forbid him to proceed to Mecca. However, the Meccans entered into negotiations with him. About ten miles outside of Mecca, by the spring of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad and the Meccans concluded a treaty known as the Treaty of Hudaybiyya. This treaty humiliated the Muslims and Muhammad. Later as he journeyed home, Muhammad told his followers that the affair at Hudaybiyya was in fact a "victory". As proof of the victory Muhammad promised his followers that they would have the "booty" of the Jewish settlement of Khaibar. Weeks later Muhammad attacked and plundered Khaibar.


INTRODUCTION

In March of 628 A.D., (6 A.H.), Muhammad attempted to make the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca. Muhammad had had a vision of going to Mecca and venerating at the Kaba.[1]. The Arabs in charge of Mecca refused to allow Muhammad to enter Mecca and sent their army out to stop him. They did not want it to appear that they were weak and Muhammad had done something against their will. Instead of entering Mecca, Muhammad and the Meccans made a treaty known as the Treaty of Hudaybiyya. This treaty was humiliating to the Muslims. Both Umar and Abu Bakr complained about the treaty's provisions.

Surprisingly, as he returned to Medina, he proclaimed the Meccan rejection of his pilgrimage, and the humiliating treaty, a "victory". Muhammad attempted to mask his degrading compromise with the Meccans by claiming to have a revelation found in Sura 48:1 -

"We have given you a glorious victory so that God may forgive you your past and future sins".

To insure his followers that he had indeed won a victory Muhammad even found a source for the spoils of war. Muhammad promised them the booty of Khaibar. Six weeks later Muhammad attacked Khaibar, conquered the Jews there, and distributed the spoils of war.


Note [1] - I did not find any reference to this vision at the beginning of the story of Hudaybiyya, however, this vision is referred to twice in source material. Further, the Quran mentions the dream Muhammad had to go to the Kaba in 48:27 (given later).

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Pertinent Links:

1) Thailand Must Push for Peace Talks in Muslim South, Group Says

2) MUHAMMAD AND THE TREATY OF HUDAYBIYYA

DAR AL HARB - ISLAM - THAILAND: THE "INSURGENCY" MAY HAVE LINKS TO THE GLOBAL JIHAD *GASPS IN SURPRISE, CANNOT BELIEVE THIS WOULD BE PUBLISHED"

Thailand insurgency may have links to the broader world of radical Islam
DENIS D. GRAY and VIJAY JOSHI,
Associated Press Writers

THANNAM THIP, Thailand (AP) - A shallow river, deep jungles and a 12-mile wall mark the divide not just between Thailand and Malaysia but between Southeast Asia's Muslim and Buddhist worlds.

This ragged stretch of border is viewed by some as a potential front in the Muslim insurgency wracking southern Thailand, mysterious in its goals and undeterred either by government crackdowns or by peace overtures.

People on both sides of the border share ethnicity, language and religion - Islam. Muslim-run soup restaurants on the Malaysian side are suspected of being funding sources for the rebels, and this has become an irritant in relations between two countries that are mainstays of the Southeast Asian alliance.

Analysts are divided over whether Thai insurgents are plugging into a broader Islamic movement or would rather confine their fight to winning some degree of autonomy. But an Associated Press investigation indicates the separatist rebellion, which has already taken the lives of more than 2,000 people, is making outside connections:

- Young Thai Muslims - thousands, by Thai government estimate - are being educated in neighboring Muslim countries and the Middle East, with an unknown number returning as recruiters or actual participants in the insurgency. Some may be receiving military training while abroad.

- Reports persist that some Indonesians or other foreigners are training and fighting with the rebels, though none has been captured and the reports are unconfirmed.

- Islamic radicals around the world are increasingly setting their sights on the insurgency. An Arab Web site appeared in January, dedicated exclusively to southern Thailand and believed the first of its kind. Couched in Islamic rhetoric, the site backs independence for southern Thais.

- Malaysia denies providing any support, mindful that the insurgency could infect its own predominantly Muslim population. But the Thai government is worried enough to be proposing a longer wall than the barrier the Malaysians built in Cold War times to stop smugglers and communist guerrillas.

''We know when some of them cross the border and report it to our Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian military, but nobody ever gets caught,'' said Lt. Chatchai Kitkhunthot in this frontier village. He was one of several Thai army officers and local officials who pinpointed infiltration and escape routes across the border on maps and the ground.

''Basically the southern Thailand conflict is becoming more regionalized. But we are at the very early stage of it,'' says Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore and wrote ''Inside al-Qaida: Global Network of Terror.'' Islamic militancy is spreading in Southeast Asia, he says, and ''What is happening in Thailand will not be an exception.''

Others disagree, likening the insurgency to the Muslim uprising in Indonesia's Aceh province, which shunned foreign help and was resolved with U.N. mediation.

''They are fighting for a separate state so they don't want one which is going to be run by outsiders,'' says a Western official in Bangkok who is knowledgeable about anti-terrorism efforts and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The insurgents, according to the Thai military, number 3,000 to 5,000, with some 10,000 to 12,000 sympathizers out of a Muslim population of 3 million in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani which border Malaysia. They are secretive, brutal, effective, and ''We don't know when or where they will attack next,'' says Col. Wichai Thongdaeng, an army spokesman in the south.

An independent sultanate until it was merged into Thailand a century ago, the southern provinces have seen rebellions come and go. In the latest, which began in early 2004, the rebels have torched schools, bombed banks, beheaded some 25 people and shot teachers, policemen, government officials and just ordinary citizens. More than half the victims have been Muslims suspected of collaborating with authorities - teachers, civil servants, policemen.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Thailand insurgency may have links to the broader world of radical Islam

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: SHARI'AH FOR SOUTH THAILAND, AN EFFORT TO APPEASE THE JIHADISTS

Thailand considers Sharia law in troubled Muslim south

BANGKOK : Thailand is considering introducing elements of Sharia law in the troubled Muslim-majority south in an effort to quell the bloody insurgency raging there, the premier said on Wednesday.

Surayud Chulanont said his government, installed after a coup last September, wanted the justice system in the three provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani to be more in line with Islamic law.

"My government will improve the justice system to make the system more reliable, and we are considering bringing in parts of Sharia law," he told a seminar of Thai diplomats and ambassadors based in Muslim countries, who had travelled to Bangkok for the meeting.

"Sharia law is already in place for family issues such as divorce. The Justice Ministry is studying what additional measures can be introduced," he told reporters after the meeting.

He rejected suggestions that the unrest in the provinces bordering Malaysia was connected to an international terrorism movement, but admitted that the militants had used religion to galvanise support.

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Appeasement never works...

Pertinent Links:

1) Thailand considers Sharia law in troubled Muslim south

DAR AL HARB - THAILAND: "WE SHALL KILL ALL THE THAI BUDDHISTS"

One beheaded, two killed in Thai Muslim south

YALA, Thailand, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim militants beheaded a Buddhist man and shot dead two civilians in southern Thailand on Sunday as an uprising shows no signs of abating.
The head of the 40-year-old farmer was found next to his body and that of his 35-year-old wife at the entrance of their rubber plantation in Yala province, police said.

Both had been shot and a handwritten note next to the bodies said, "We shall kill all Thai Buddhists", they said.

In the same province, a 74-year-old man was shot dead while riding his motorcycle, police said. Two teenagers, also on a motorcycle, had shot the man.

On Saturday, suspected militants shot dead police Sergeant-Major Pak Petmalai, 47, as he headed for work at a station near his home.

Militants in Thailand's Muslim-majority three southern provinces, a Muslim sultanate until Bangkok annexed the region a century ago, never claim responsibility for attacks, nor have they set out their aims.

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Ladies & gentlemen I give you THE RELIGION OF PEACE ! ! !

Pertinent Links:

1) One beheaded, two killed in Thai Muslim south