Hudhaifa
27-10-03, 15:42
Thai Muslims Struggle For Liberation In Ramadan
Oct 27, 2003
Source: Islam Online
A police officer in Pattani, and a civil guard in Narathiwat, majority Muslim areas were shot dead Saturday, October 25, signaling non-stop struggle for Mujahideen fighters despite the start of Ramadan, according to news reports Sunday, October 26.
In Narathiwat, a group of seven to eight gunmen fired at seven civil guards while they were having dinner at their base, killing the police officer and wounding two others, wrote the Nation newspaper Sunday.
Fifteen minutes later in Pattani, two gunmen killed a policeman sitting in front of his checkpoint in Ma-Yor district. They fled on a motorcycle the paper added.
Police is carrying out searches for the suspects whom locals believe are members of the obscure group that calls itself the “Mujahideen”, whose mission is to attack official targets of the Thai regime in the south.
Ramadan starts Monday for Thai Muslims, most of them living in the Malay belt regions stretching over four states rich with Muslim culture.
“However the struggle continues for an obscure group of young Thai Muslims, angered by the ‘colonialization’ of the land of their ancestors by the Thais continues,” a Thai businessman on a visit to Malaysia told IOL.
Since the disbanding of the Pattani United Liberation Front (PULO) and tight security in the southern provinces, Muslims in the region has attempted to revert to cooperation with the authorities in order to safeguard their culture and history.
“Yet some of us are not happy with the imposition of Thai culture and language and all the tight security around us, they react and they formed a group called the Mujahideen to show their anger,” said the businessman, who wanted to remain incognito.
He added that the Mujahideen were young Muslim elements of 20 to 35 of age, ready to fight the authorities in armed resistance due to the level of crime committed by police and army officials against Muslims in the south.
“Ramadan or not, they will continue the attacks until this sap the morals of the officials in the South,” said the businessman.
The Mujahideen are mostly engaged in low-level violence against the government, attacking soft targets and killing police and military officers and their agents as a means of retaliation.
They use automatic weapons in most cases and at times plants bomb devices at police stations or near police cars, a source in south Thailand told IOL.
“We Muslims can’t condemn the Mujahideen altogether. In the south, the Thai’s (Buddhists in general) want to gradually impose their ways of living, allowing discos and other entertainment centers to be opened near to Muslim areas,” he added.
He also said that the Muslims want their own lifestyle and faith to be respected and warned that if the entertainment centers were not closed during Ramadan, “there might be more serious incidents, who knows?”
Flood Stricken Areas
Almost on the eve of Ramadan, the southern regions of Surat Thani and Satun were under the menace of heavy rain and consequent flooding, another serious disruption to the Muslims in the areas.
The fate of 24 fishermen, including four Thais, reported missing after their boats capsized in heavy seas off Surat Thani and Satun on Tuesday remained unknown yesterday.
The flash flood hit the already stricken south regions on Saturday morning after a night of heavy rain, the result of a depression centered 30 kilometers in off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.
The depression is headed northwest towards upper southern provinces. Worst hit by the flooding was Phetchaburi's Cha-am district, where water levels were as high as 50centimetres above the railway tracks in some places.
Meanwhile, authorities in Surat Thani's Kanchanadit and Don Sak districts Saturday urged villagers to closely monitor weather forecasts, despite water levels returning to normal.
Oct 27, 2003
Source: Islam Online
A police officer in Pattani, and a civil guard in Narathiwat, majority Muslim areas were shot dead Saturday, October 25, signaling non-stop struggle for Mujahideen fighters despite the start of Ramadan, according to news reports Sunday, October 26.
In Narathiwat, a group of seven to eight gunmen fired at seven civil guards while they were having dinner at their base, killing the police officer and wounding two others, wrote the Nation newspaper Sunday.
Fifteen minutes later in Pattani, two gunmen killed a policeman sitting in front of his checkpoint in Ma-Yor district. They fled on a motorcycle the paper added.
Police is carrying out searches for the suspects whom locals believe are members of the obscure group that calls itself the “Mujahideen”, whose mission is to attack official targets of the Thai regime in the south.
Ramadan starts Monday for Thai Muslims, most of them living in the Malay belt regions stretching over four states rich with Muslim culture.
“However the struggle continues for an obscure group of young Thai Muslims, angered by the ‘colonialization’ of the land of their ancestors by the Thais continues,” a Thai businessman on a visit to Malaysia told IOL.
Since the disbanding of the Pattani United Liberation Front (PULO) and tight security in the southern provinces, Muslims in the region has attempted to revert to cooperation with the authorities in order to safeguard their culture and history.
“Yet some of us are not happy with the imposition of Thai culture and language and all the tight security around us, they react and they formed a group called the Mujahideen to show their anger,” said the businessman, who wanted to remain incognito.
He added that the Mujahideen were young Muslim elements of 20 to 35 of age, ready to fight the authorities in armed resistance due to the level of crime committed by police and army officials against Muslims in the south.
“Ramadan or not, they will continue the attacks until this sap the morals of the officials in the South,” said the businessman.
The Mujahideen are mostly engaged in low-level violence against the government, attacking soft targets and killing police and military officers and their agents as a means of retaliation.
They use automatic weapons in most cases and at times plants bomb devices at police stations or near police cars, a source in south Thailand told IOL.
“We Muslims can’t condemn the Mujahideen altogether. In the south, the Thai’s (Buddhists in general) want to gradually impose their ways of living, allowing discos and other entertainment centers to be opened near to Muslim areas,” he added.
He also said that the Muslims want their own lifestyle and faith to be respected and warned that if the entertainment centers were not closed during Ramadan, “there might be more serious incidents, who knows?”
Flood Stricken Areas
Almost on the eve of Ramadan, the southern regions of Surat Thani and Satun were under the menace of heavy rain and consequent flooding, another serious disruption to the Muslims in the areas.
The fate of 24 fishermen, including four Thais, reported missing after their boats capsized in heavy seas off Surat Thani and Satun on Tuesday remained unknown yesterday.
The flash flood hit the already stricken south regions on Saturday morning after a night of heavy rain, the result of a depression centered 30 kilometers in off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.
The depression is headed northwest towards upper southern provinces. Worst hit by the flooding was Phetchaburi's Cha-am district, where water levels were as high as 50centimetres above the railway tracks in some places.
Meanwhile, authorities in Surat Thani's Kanchanadit and Don Sak districts Saturday urged villagers to closely monitor weather forecasts, despite water levels returning to normal.