 Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today admitted that strict action against southern insurgents was being put on hold until after the 6 February general election, saying that arresting the militants prior to the election would make the government look as if it were acting out of spite. The prime minister, who this morning convened a meeting on the southern insurgency which brought together the heads of the Southern Border Provinces Peace Building Command and the Royal Thai Army, police and intelligence chiefs, said that he had ordered stricter action on the southern security situation. Speaking of the need for continuing arrests, he said that failure to take quick action could see lower-ranking militants attempt further violence as a way of wresting power from their commanders. But while insisting that the government was monitoring the 90 insurgents on its blacklist, he said that more arrests at the present time would be inappropriate. Any concerted crackdown prior to the general election on 6 February would make the government appear to be acting simply out of political spite, he said. However, he confirmed that one of the 90 blacklisted insurgents was arrested last night on charges of shooting a local teacher. |