Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva early Monday morning left for southern Pattani province to visit teachers working in the region and inspect the situation in Mae Lan district of Pattani province after enforcement of Emergency Decree lifted.
Along with Minister of Education Chinnaworn Boonnyakiat, the prime minister attended a ceremony and granted relief funds to the representatives of those teachers whom were affected by insurgency in the three southernmost provinces.
The premier then went to Mae Lan district of Pattani province where the imposition of the Emergency Decree was revoked in late December in order to observe the situation there.
The state of emergency decree was lifted by the cabinet on Dec. 28 and replaced by the Internal Security Act which gives authority less power on Dec. 30.
The state of emergency has been enforced in the three troubled southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat some five years ago in the wake of the violence instigated by suspected secessionists. Since 2004, more than 4,400 people have been killed and about 7,000 injured in the three provinces by the suspected separatists.