Phuket won’t be base for rebels – Surin

BANGKOK (AFP): Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday evening that Thailand will make every effort to prevent its territory from being used as a base by Tamil Tiger rebels fighting the government of Sri Lanka. Speaking after a dinner at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, K. Surin said that although one person was detained in connection with the submersible, authorities had no evidence of criminal activity. “We don’t want our territory to be used as a transit point…for anyone to create problems for any country,” he told reporters. He said Thailand would do “what we can” but urged media to tone down “sensationalism” in coverage of the discovery of the submersible. “I have made it clear to the [Thai] authorities that these are issues that can be handled more effectively behind the light of the cameras,” Surin said. “Any impression of instability anywhere would affect the whole region, therefore we have taken the concern seriously; we have looked into the leaks of the information.”