Thai House session on reconciliation bills debate adjourned

BANGKOK, June 1 (TNA) - A Thai House of Representative session to deliberate four proposed national reconciliation bills has been indefinitely adjourned. Deputy House Speaker Wisut Chai-arun announced the parilamentary session adjournment Friday morning, after anti-government groups, including the yellow-shirt and the multi-colour people, had rallied outside the Parliament building to oppose the passage of the reconciliation bills and blocked a key route preventing lawmakers from entering the Parliament to start the deliberation. The deputy House speaker did not say when the parilamentary session on the national reconciliation bills debate will be reconvened. Thailand's main opposition Democrat Party has also strongly voiced oppostion to the national reconciliation bills, with Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva even vowing that his party would do everything possible to thwart the Parliament's passage of the reconciliation bills. Abhisit claimed that the proposed national reconciliation bills would cause deep rifts both inside and outside the Parliament, as they damage legal principles of the state by annulling court verdicts in political cases which would "whitewash" people who committed offences during previous political turmoils in the country and removing the party dissolution law. Abhisit, a former Thai prime minister, also pointed out that the bills would also help convicted ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra move beyond his corruption cases without taking responsibility for them.(TNA)