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BANGKOK - THAILAND'S cabinet on Friday agreed to extend emergency rule in the Muslim-majority south, with the prime minister promising that the divisive law would not last forever.
After a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said the state of emergency would be extended for three more months starting April 20 in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, where a separatist insurgency is raging.
'We endorsed the extension of emergency rule, which has been extended 10 times ... this extension would make the rule in place for a total time of 33 months,' Mr Samak told reporters after the meeting.
'The emergency rule will not continue forever because the situation is improving, but as of now we really need it,' he said.
Emergency rule provides security forces broad immunity from prosecution, while giving them sweeping powers of search and seizure. It also allows suspects to be detained for up to 30 days without charge.
Human rights groups have criticised the decree and say it creates a climate of impunity in the region.
More than 3,000 people have died since the separatist rebellion began in January 2004, with killings growing more frequent and brutal since then, despite promises by successive governments to battle the insurgency.
Martial law, imposed after the September 2006 coup, will also remain in place in the three southern provinces, Mr Samak said on Thursday while announcing that restrictions would be lifted in the rest of Thailand.
The southern region was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension.
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