Suwaphan said the passport issuance would have to be approved by the ecclesiastical provincial governor of Pathum Thani.

He said while it was likely the Phra Dhammachayo was no longer at the sprawling temple, security personnel would remain stationed around the temple’s compound because it had been declared a controlled area under the all-powerful Article 44 of the interim charter.

The Department of Special Investigation is still evaluating the situation at the temple, he said, while the National Office of Buddhism remains in charge of Buddhist discipline and governance affairs there.

Institute deputy director Dr Noppawan Sriwongpanich cited the institute’s 2016 report, which showed that about 26 per cent of children with Down syndrome received child development promotion treatment and attended the educational and vocational rehabilitation programme. About 67 per cent of those under the age of five who participated in the programme showed significant improvement in autonomy and small muscle development, she said.

“Infants and the under-fives with Down syndrome would enjoy better development if parents brought them to the programmes from a very young age, preferably in the first year of life. The parents, who are the key group in providing care, would also be equipped with knowledge on how to take care of the child’s health and promote development at home. This would contribute to Down syndrome kids being able to study in the normal educational system and have a job and play a full role in society,” she added.

Her comments were made on the occasion of the World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), which is observed on March 21 every year to raise public awareness and advocate for the inclusion and well being of people with Down syndrome. The Rajanukul Institute also organised an event for children with Down syndrome and their family members where they participated in activities such as games and a talent show. Multi-disciplinary teams and medical experts were on hand to provide information about Down syndrome.

PRESSURE has mounted on the military to give a clear explanation on the extrajudicial killing of young Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae, after police charged the soldier who fired the fatal bullet. Many ethnic activists and lawyers have called for justice.

Chaiyapoom, officially 21 years old but possibly 16 or 17, was shot dead on Friday in northwest Chiang Mai province. Military personnel claimed they shot in self-defence as the activist, whom they described as a drug dealer, was about to throw a hand grenade at them.

According to officials, troops who set up a checkpoint in the province’s Chiang Dao district found 2,800 methamphetamine tablets in a black car, of which Chaiyapoom was an occupant.

As they were about to arrest the activist and the car driver Phongsanai Saengtala, 19, Chaiyapoom got out of the car and ran away, according to the chief of Na Wai police station in Chonlathep Maithai district.

Three soldiers chased him, fired into the air first but then aimed at him as they saw the young man was about to throw the grenade, he said.

“He was shot in the left flank and the bullet remained in his body,” the police chief said, noting that police had no record of Chaiyapoom’s involvement in drug crimes. An autopsy was done at Nakhonping Hospital in Chiang Mai before a Christian funeral was held for the young man yesterday.

Police later interrogated and charged a soldier with intentional killing before transferring him to his unit at Pichit Preechakorn camp in Chiang Dao district.

People who knew Chaiyapoom said there was no reason to suspect that he was involved in illicit activities because he had campaigned against drug-use since his childhood.

He was awarded a prize at the 16th Thai Short Film and Video Festival for a short film called “Belt and Comb”, and several of his short documentaries were broadcast on Thai PBS. Chaiyapoom was also a gifted songwriter who composed ethnic folk songs about his community, they said.

The detained driver, Phongsanai, told activists who visited him over the weekend that he drove the car together with roommate Chaiyapoom on their regular route to Chiang Mai city after music activities at school in Chiang Dao. He had no idea about the narcotics, according to the activists.

Networks for indigenous people in Thailand have pledged to fight for justice in the young man’s death. “We have already appointed a lawyer for this case. We will fight to the end,” said Panachai Janta, a coordinator for health security for indigenous people in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the Army denied overreacting or using excessive force in the fatal shooting. “From the information we have received, he [Chaiyapoom] not only resisted officials’ operations but also tried to attack officials. The shooting was an act of self-defence,” Army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said yesterday.

Cross-Cultural Foundation chairman and a lawyer in the case, Surapong Kongchantuk, said that human rights campaigners in the area had been having conflicts with the military for a long time.

“Chaiyapoom was a young, dedicated activist who led the Lahu youth group to publicise the problems of his ethnic minority. I did not work directly with him, but I can see that he was a good young man and not the kind of person who would get involved with drugs,” Surapong said.

Although Chaiyapoom’s body was already buried, the lawyer would ask for any signs of physical injury revealed by the autopsy to be used as evidence in the case.

“We intend to find the truth about his death and we also ask the military to not interfere in the justice system,” Surapong said.

Earlier reports said people in Ban Kongpakping had a dispute with the military at one time.

Chaiyapoom’s guardian Maitree Chareonsuksakul was sued by the army for violating the Computer Crime Act, after Maitree uploaded a video of soldiers slapping local |people on the Internet. Maitree was acquitted of the charge at Chiang Mai Court last year.

A sub-panel of the committee would review and combine ideas from all proposals submitted, including the PDRF’s, into a “social contract” at a later date, he said.

Prawit said the committee’s working groups had assured him that their work in forging reconciliation “ was on the right track”.

Participants at the meeting yesterday were told by advisers to the committee to meet as many people as possible to ensure the project was successful.

Prawit also said he had instructed officials to ensure that people know what the committee has been doing. They should also know how the country would move forward, he added.

Talks in provinces as well as Bangkok

The committee has organised talks with 72 political parties and groups, as well as 60 civil organisations. Forums have been |held in the provinces, as well as in Bangkok, in a process expected to conclude on Thursday.

The committee will hold public hearings in April before wrapping up the proposals and developing a paper regarding the “social contract” by June, said Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich, chair of the committee’s sub-panel on public relations.

Kongcheep said Prawit had emphasised that reconciliation work was being done on behalf of all Thais and they should have a chance to take part and gain benefit.

Representatives from civil society are scheduled to speak with the military on reconciliation this week.

SOME OF THE firearms seized from a fugitive red-shirt leader’s house were snatched from the Army by protesters during the 2010 political upheaval, Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, chief of Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said yesterday.

The raid by troops and police targeting Wutthipong Kacha-thamkhun, alias “Ko Tee”, in Pathum Thani province on Saturday, allegedly unearthed a large cache of weapons including four M-16 rifles, one M79 grenade launcher, 13 other guns, and about 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

Three red-shirt banners and other material deemed to violate the lese majeste law were also found.

“After checking the firearms, we found that they belonged to the Army and were snatched by protesters during the demonstration in May 2010,” Paisit said.

He was referring to the protest by the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, also known as red shirts, calling for then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. As the protests escalated, the government mounted a crackdown, resulting in deaths of civilians and soldiers.

Terrorism charges

Authorities believe Wutthipong is hiding in Laos. Referring to a Thai request for Laos to deport him, Paisit said that if he returned to Thailand he would be charged with terrorism.

Wutthipong has also been linked to the controversial and recently besieged Dhammakaya Temple in Pathum Thani, as he pledged in a YouTube programme to provide weapons to help the temple. Authorities have tried to enter the temple to find and arrest former abbot Phra Dhammachayo on charges including money laundering.

Paisit said that intelligence reports from the DSI, Army and police suggested that core red-shirt leaders in the 2010 protests had been seen near Dhammakaya Temple. Meanwhile, a DSI source said police requests to search Boonraksa Building inside the temple had been rejected because there were weapons belonging to the red-shirt leaders hidden there. The temple only permitted a search after the weapons had been moved out of the building, the source claimed.

Police yesterday continued their raids in nine locations in seven provinces in a hunt for more weapons possibly connected to Wutthipong.