Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has extended use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Mae Lan district of Pattani and Chana, Na Thawi, Saba Yoi and Thepha districts of Songkhla for another year, starting on Friday.
The announcement was made in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday. The current 12-month use of the ISA in the five districts was announced in November last year and will end on Thursday night.
The announcement said there continue to be incidents that affect internal security in the five districts.
Officials had managed to control the situation to some extent since the ISA's invocation. To continue this and ensure optimum effectiveness in maintaining security, it was necesary to extend its use to prevent the problem intensifying, according to the announcement.
The Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) or any agencies assigned by Isoc would serve as a centre to prevent, suppress, solve or ease situations which could affect security, and to cooperate with or hurry other agencies to follow up on stipulated plans, the announcement said.
Any orders under the current use of the ISA would remain in force.
The announcement said any officials who have authority in line with the ISA must enforce the law but within the bounds of necessity only, and refrain from causing people unreasonable trouble.
The ISA gives authorities power to ban anyone from entering areas declared off-limits and also prohibiting people from leaving their property within a specified timeframe.
Officials can ban the use of stipulated transport routes or vehicles and prohibit people from using certain electronic equipment in the declared areas.
The extension of the ISA comes the day after people gathered peacefully in Songkhla’s Muang district to deliver a petition against the planned coal power station in Thepha district to the mobile cabinet meeting being chaired by the prime minister.
Sixteen of them were arrested by riot police, with three being injured.
According to Isoc, the ISA has now been in force in parts of Songkhla and Pattani for almost 10 years, and its fresh invocation is only an extension of the status quo.
