<p>Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have issued statements condemning the double bombing attack outside the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) in Yala on Tuesday (18 March).</p>

<div> <div>An insurgent umbrella organisation in Thailand’s restive Deep South has insisted it was not involved in a recent bomb attack that killed a 4-year-old girl and her father.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 9 July 2016, the Mara Patani group posted on its official&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mara-Patani-OfficialPage-209905189404553/?fref=nf">Facebook page</a>&nbsp;a statement condemning the bomb attacks. The bombing occurred three days earlier at a school in Tak Bai District, in the Deep South province of Narathiwat. </div></div>

<div><em>Prachatai talked to Romadon Panjor, a civil society worker in Thailand’s Deep South who went to participate in the discussions between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Patani independence group MARA Patani in Kuala Lumpur. Romadon reveals how the discussions went, the OIC’s direction, and how the continuing peace process will probably proceed.&nbsp;</em></div> <p></p>

<div>The first ever skateboard competition in the southernmost province of Pattani has been held. A rare public event in a violence-plagued region, it comes amid calls for the Thai military and the Malay Muslim freedom fighters to establish a ceasefire zone in residential and economic areas.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>A Buddhist Thai youth has been indicted for alleged involvement in the separatist movement for the independence of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, which are predominantly Muslim Malay.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><span id="docs-internal-guid-85983485-7f13-eb6e-6b83-fa52da18cf94">According to the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BBCThai/photos/a.1527194487501586.1073741828.1526071940947174/1705100376377662/?type=3">BBC Thai service</a>, the public prosecutor on 15 October 2015 indicted the first ever Buddhist Thai in a rebellion case related to the Deep South insurgenc </div>

<div><em>The Deep South peace process often focuses on the Muslim Malay, but there are several other minorities that do not have much of a voice in this process. Prachatai talks with a Buddhist Thai group, an LGBT group, and ethnic Chinese on their views on the regional unrest.&nbsp;</em></div> <p></p>

<div><em>For the past few decades, Malay, Thai, and Chinese locals living in the southernmost provinces of Thailand have had to carry out their lives amidst an atmosphere of violence and tension.&nbsp;The story examines the everyday's life of Muslim Malay and Thai-Chinese in Patani to see how the violence affects their life and their attempt to normalize the daily discrimination and conflict.</em></div> <p></p>

<div>Under the junta government, the peace talks idea is on the table again. The insurgent groups founded MARA, an umbrella organization to represent the movement in the talks. 2 unofficial meetings have been held in Malaysia. MARA has revealed important demands as a prerequisite before the real peace talks can continue. &nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The court has rejected an appeal to investigate an alleged torture case in Pattani on grounds that the 2007 Constitution can no longer be used to claim a citizen’s basic rights, according to the&nbsp; <a href="http://th.macmuslim.com/?p=810">Muslim Attorney Center Foundation</a>.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>On 7 September, the Pattani Provincial Court rejected an appeal by Rohima Huseng, who alleged security officers in Pattani tortured her brother, Hasan Huseng, during interrogation.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Hasan Huseng, a suspected insurgent, was captured by Spec </div></div>