A top advisor to the head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation OIC secretary-general’s visited Thailand’s southernmost province of Yala on Wednesday, saying that the region’s ongoing violence is not caused by religious conflicts.
Ambassador Sayed Kassem El-Masry, representing the OIC secretary-general, was briefed on Thailand’s responses to the violence in the region at the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre SBPAC in Yala during a meeting with representatives of Thai security agencies and the governors of five affected southern provinces.
Mr El-Masry said afterward that the violence in the southernmost provinces was conducted by small groups of people and was not based in matters of religion. He said he believed it was related to differences in identity, ethnicity and tradition and that such occurrences happened normally in a country with minorities.
However, he said it is good to know that the violence and losses have been reduced. Mr El-Masry said he will later report on the situation to OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.
via World Muslim official visits Thailand’s southernmost province.
