<p>I took a taxi from Kuala Lumpur's bustling shopping centre at the Petronas Twin Towers in the heart of the city. It was taking me along one of the busy highways which cuts through the city to a tom yam restaurant. Thai food is very popular in Malaysia but what most people are unaware of is that most of the owners and workers of the thousands of tom yam restaurants across Malaysia are Patani Malays from across the border in Thailand's Patani region of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.</p>

<p>The Thai military has dropped criminal defamation charges against three human rights defenders who exposed torture in Thailand’s Deep South.</p> <p>On 7 March 2017, Col Pramote Promin, Deputy Spokesperson for Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, said the military has withdrawn criminal defamation charges against Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF); Somchai Homla-or, Advisor to the CrCF; and Anchana Heemmina, President of the Duay Jai group.</p>

<p>Five months after agreeing on preconditions for peace talks, the Thai government and Deep South insurgent groups have agreed on a general framework to set up safety zones in the restive region.</p> <p>On 28 February 2017, Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a delegate and key member of MARA Patani, an umbrella organization of Deep South independent movements, announced that the group and the Thai government representatives to the Deep South peace negotiations in Malaysia had reached an agreement on a framework to establish safety zones. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Human rights defenders accused by the military of criminal defamation for exposing torture in the Deep South have urged prosecutors to seek more witnesses. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>On 21 February 2017, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF); Somchai Homla-or, Advisor to the CrCF; and Anchana Heemmina, President of the Duay Jai group,<a href="http://news.voicetv.co.th/thailand/463767.html">&nbsp;submitted a letter to the Office of Provincial Public Prosecution </a>in the Deep South province of Pattani.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Amidst controversy over a hijab-wearing football club in the predominantly Muslim Deep South, leading academics and activists have urged locals to be more tolerant of gender identities. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/category/human-rights-watch-hrw">Human Rights Watch</a> (HRW) is the Thai junta’s least favourite international human rights non-governmental organization, just below <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/category/amnesty-international-ai">Amnesty International</a> (AI). HRW’s 2017 report, covered in this recent Prachatai English <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/6836">news report</a>, which includes some choice quotes from Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, is quite damning.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Officials have confirmed the death of a key leader of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest armed insurgent group operating in Thailand’s restive Deep South. Authorities claim the death will not disturb ongoing peace talks between the government and rebel groups.</p> <p dir="ltr">On 15 January 2017, Gen Aksara Kerdphol, who leads the government’s committee on border province peace talks, confirmed the passing of Sapaeing Baso, a leader of BRN.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thai police have denied lawyers from the Deep South access to three suspects arrested for an alleged Bangkok bombing plot. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>When the Japanese scholar and translator, Hara Shintaro used the term 'Siamese imperialist' in a translation of a YouTube post by BRN, a Malay armed resistance organization believed by many to be the strongest and most active group in the Patani conflict, it was condemned not simply for being an incorrect translation but being “too harsh”<a name="m_7533375008648219930__ftnref1" title="">[1]</a>. Of course, it is not only the Thai state which does not take kindly to being described as an imperialist.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Embattled Thai human rights activists insist their innocence as they continue to fight against lawsuits filed by the military.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A deputy junta head has revealed that the Thai government has set up a committee to discuss with Malaysia plans to build a wall along the Malaysian-Thai border. The wall would aim to counter transborder crimes and resolve dual citizenship issues. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">Romadon Panjor, editor of the Deep South Watch website, presented his Master’s Degree thesis at the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University, on how the Thai state has created a large number of terms over the past 12 years’ of violence in the Deep South that obfuscate the political intentions of the Patani liberation movement and deters international intervention. On the other hand, the insurgency has also created terms that Thais have never heard before and that challenge the mainstream Thai discourse.</p> <p></p>