Thailand’s military asks local administrators to implement “special safety zones” for Buddhist monks to protect them from Muslims

The jihad in Thailand is only going to get worse. As America’s power in the world continues to diminish under Obama, the forces of evil are becoming more emboldened, brazen and savage. There is growing Muslim support for the Islamic State (IS) from South Asia to the Far East; four new jihadist groups are planning an Islamic caliphate comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Southern Philippines.

“Safety measures for Buddhist monks in Thai Muslim south,” by Max Constant, Anadolu Agency, July 26, 2015 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

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Thailand’s military has officially asked local administrations in the insurgency-plagued Muslim south to implement a series of special safety measures for Buddhist monks, a day after a fatal attack during an alms gathering round.

Among the measures announced Sunday, provincial governors and districts chiefs must organize “special safety zones” where “the Buddhist monks will be able to collect alms and the Buddhist laypeople will be able to offer donations to the monks,” according to an official document obtained by Anadolu Agency.

The zones will be cleared and controlled daily by military forces, police squads and volunteer militias before monks start walking to collect donations in accordance with Thai Buddhist custom, the Fourth Army — in charge of southern Thailand – told local administrations in the document.

Another clause stipulated that “in areas where there is only a small number of temples or if the safety zones cannot be securely established, the lay-Buddhists will have to offer donations to the monks within the temples’ compounds.”

The document, signed by the Fourth Army’s chief General Prakarn Cholayuth, also called on local Buddhist associations to cooperate among themselves and with the authorities of ensure the safety of Buddhist monks and temples.

The calls came in the wake of a bombing that killed a soldier and a Buddhist monk Saturday morning when the clerics were gathering alms under police escort in Saiburi district of conflict-torn Pattani province. Another monk, two soldiers and three civilians sustained injuries in the incident.

Buddhist monks are often targeted by separatist insurgents who considered them as both symbols of the Thai state and a reminder of past attempts to convert Malay Muslims by force.

According to police statistics, 19 monks have been killed and 25 injured in insurgency-related violence since 2004.

Saturday’s attack came in the wake of a series of shootings and bombings over the last three weeks — a rise in violence that occurs every year during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended on July 17 in Thailand.

On Monday, two insurgents were killed in a clash with soldiers while a third suspect was captured.

The incidents seemed to confirm observations published by a think tank earlier this month that said the generals ruling Thailand since last year’s coup — despite expressing interest in restarting a peace dialogue — seemed to prioritize a military approach to solving the conflict.

“Reports that [junta leader-cum-prime minister] General Prayuth [Chan-ocha] has spurned talks with a newly formed militant umbrella group raised questions about the government’s willingness to negotiate,” the International Crisis Group said in its report.

The southern insurgency is rooted in a century-old ethno-cultural conflict between the Malay Muslims living in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat and some districts of Songhkla, and the Thai central state where Buddhism is de facto considered the national religion.

Armed insurgent groups were formed in the 1960s after the then-military dictatorship tried to interfere in Islamic schools. The Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) had been the dominant rebel group until it faded away in the middle of the 1990s.

In 2004, a rejuvenated armed movement — composed of numerous local cells of fighters loosely grouped around the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) or National Revolutionary Front — re-emerged. Since then, the conflict has killed 6,400 people and injured over 11,000, making it one of the deadliest low-intensity conflict on the planet.

A peace dialogue had begun under the elected government of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2013, but was suspended in December that year due to political tensions in Bangkok.

The May 22, 2014 coup against Yingluck’s government that brought the junta to power added more uncertainty to a possible peaceful solution to the conflict, despite the military expressing commitment to pursue talks.

Six rebel groups, including PULO and BRN, have recently set up a Consultative Council of Patani, under the name MARA Patani, in order to coordinate for eventual peace talks. But as noted by the International Crisis Group report, “BRN hardliners remain uncommitted.”

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jeff dee

8 years ago

Oh but this has nothing to do with Islam — sarc.

Islam is poison. And I mean ALL of Islam.

There is nothing good that has every come from Islam. Only death, torture, repression and subjugation.

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tamimisledus

8 years ago

Reply to  jeff dee

Well “islam has nothing to do with islam”! But I am sure that you knew that anyway.

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Roger Charles

8 years ago

Negotiations with Islam are useless and dangerous, because Muslims only use negotiations, along with many other means, to further the Koran agenda of domination over all non-Muslims. So the generals are correct in not negotiating with any of these hostile Islamic groups. Application of strength and power against them is the only way to assure some measure of safety for Monks or for other Thai citizens.

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Rick Smith

8 years ago

Reply to  Roger Charles

Deceit being such a integral part of Islam even truces (hudna) are seen as opportunities to deceive.

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tamimisledus

8 years ago

“…. seemed to prioritize a military approach to solving the conflict”.
islam only recognises superior physical strength, and only so long as it has to. Wherever it sees weakness, it will pounce.
There is only one solution to the problem of islam and that is the application of physical force to ensure that it does not come to dominate.

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