{{Short description|Thai Army general}} {{Infobox military officer | name = Pallop Pinmanee | native_name = พัลลภ ปิ่นมณี | native_name_lang = th | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|5|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Sam Phran, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Khunying Naruedee Pinmanee<ref name="Archived copy">{{Cite web |url=http://hotbirthdays.com/celebrity/pallop-pinmanee.html |title=Pallop Pinmanee - Bio, Family, Facts, Age: 82 | Hot Birthdays |access-date=2018-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803014044/http://hotbirthdays.com/celebrity/pallop-pinmanee.html |archive-date=2018-08-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | children = | alma_mater = {{ubl|Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy|{{ill|Royal Thai Army Command and General Staff College|th|โรงเรียนเสนาธิการทหารบก|v=ib}}<ref>{{Cite web | title=ประวัติพล.อ.พัลลภ ปิ่นมณี ข้อมูลล่าสุดของพล.อ.พัลลภ ปิ่นมณี | url=https://www.thairath.co.th/person/4025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803015633/https://www.thairath.co.th/person/4025 | access-date=2025-03-28 | archive-date=2018-08-03}}</ref>}} | allegiance = {{flag|Thailand}} | branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Royal Thai Army.svg}} Royal Thai Army | service_years = 1964–1996 | rank = 15px General<ref name="ratchakitcha.soc.go.th">[https://web.archive.org/web/20180802223412/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2539/B/009/15.PDF His Majesty the King has graciously bestowed military ranks of general rank on 65 commissioned officers as special cases]</ref> | service_number = | unit = 1st King's Own Bodyguard Regiment<br />9th Infantry Division<br />Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command | commands = Internal Security Operations Command | battles = {{tree list}} * '''Cold War''' ** Cold War in Asia *** Vietnam War *** Laotian Civil War *** Communist insurgency in Thailand *** Communist insurgency in Malaysia *** Vietnamese border raids in Thailand * '''Southern Insurgency''' {{tree list/end}} | battles_label = | awards = | relations = | other_work = | module = {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | party =Democrat Party (1996)<ref name=cit/><br> Pheu Thai Party (2018–)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.people.cn/90001/90777/90851/6888319.html|title = Thai opposition leader denies he will head "people's army" - People's Daily Online}}</ref> }} }}
'''Pallop Pinmanee''' ({{langx|th|พัลลภ ปิ่นมณี}},{{RTGS|Phanlop Pinmani}}, born 25 May 1936 in Sam Phran, Nakhon Pathom as ''Amnat Pinmanee'' ({{langx|th|อำนาจ ปิ่นมณี}}, {{RTGS|Amnat Pinmani}}) is a retired Thai Army general who took part in several coups, ordered the massacre of insurgents at Krue Sae Mosque and allegedly played a role in the attempted car-bomb assassination of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}} After a 2006 military coup overthrew Thaksin, the military junta appointed Pallop public relations adviser to the Internal Security Operations Command of Thailand. He eventually switched sides and became an adviser to Thaksin's younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra while she was serving as prime minister.
==Military career== Pallop was a member of Class Seven of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, the "young Turks", where he befriended classmate Chamlong Srimuang.<ref name="irrawaddy.org">[http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=5488&z=154 Sutin Wannabovorn, "Thai Ruling Party Lawmakers Sour on Thaksin", 21 February 2006]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He began his military career as a commando and self-professed assassin.<ref name="assassin">''New York Times'', [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/world/asia/27thai.html Thai Security Chief Vows a Tough Stand Against Muslim Separatists], 27 May 2007</ref> With his young Turk classmates, Pallop was involved in successful military coups against the governments of Seni Pramoj and Tanin Kraivixien and an unsuccessful April Fool's Day 1981 coup against the government of Prem Tinsulanonda.<ref>{{citation|work=Thairath|language=thai|url=https://www.thairath.co.th/news/politic/1501676|accessdate=2023-05-20|date=2019-02-21|title=วีรกรรม จปร.7 "กบฏยังเติร์ก" หวังโค่นอำนาจ "พล.อ.เปรม" สุดท้ายล้มเหลว|trans-title=Heroism, Jor Por Ror 7, "The Young Turk Rebels" hoped to overthrow the power of "Gen Prem", finally failed}}</ref> He also admitted masterminding a number of assassination attempts against General Arthit Kamlang-ek, commander of the Army under Prem.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}
He participated in guerrilla-warfare missions in Laos in 1966 and 1967 and was appointed chief of the Special Thai Ranger Army, a volunteer unit which carried out clandestine, anti-communist guerrilla operations financed by the US Central Intelligence Agency against the North Vietnamese Army along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Kingdom of Laos, in 1968.<ref name="assassin" /><ref name="bangkokpost.net">{{Cite web|url=http://bangkokpost.net/News/25Aug2006_news04.php|title=''Bangkok Post'', "A controversial figure", 25 August 2006}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Two years later, he was appointed leader of a secret seven-man unit which carried out extrajudicial killings. "The assignment was to kill the leaders of communist groups all over Thailand", he told a reporter, and claimed to have assassinated many suspected communists.<ref name="assassin" />
Pallop was appointed a senator by the military-led government in 1979, and became commander of the 19th Infantry Regiment the following year. He participated in operations along the Thai-Cambodian border in 1986 and 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/150106_Perspective/15Jan2006_pers03.php|title=''Bangkok Post'', "General urges two-pronged attack", 15 January 2006}}</ref>
He was involved in several coups.<ref name="bangkokpost.net"/> With other members of the Young Turks, he helped topple the elected government of Seni Pramoj after the massacre of 6 October 1976. Pallop also participated in the 1977 coup against the ultra-conservative government of Tanin Kraivixien. During the Prem government, the Young Turks tried to seize power on 1 April 1981. When it became clear that the royal family continued to support Prem, the coup failed; although Pallop fled to the Lao People's Democratic Republic to escape punishment, he was jailed for two months by the Laotian government. He later admitted masterminding a number of assassination attempts against General Arthit Kamlang-ek, commander of the army in Prem's administration.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}
Although Pallop was rehabilitated and retired from the Royal Thai Army with the rank of general in 1996, he was appointed deputy director-general of the Internal Security Operations Command. In this position, he ordered military forces to storm the Krue Sae Mosque during a standoff with southern insurgents.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}
== Krue Sae mosque incident == Pallop was appointed commander of the Southern Peace Enhancement Center to deal with insurgency in southern Thailand. On 28 April 2004, more than 100 militants carried out attacks against 10 police stations across Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces in southern Thailand.<ref>[http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/south2years/apr2906.php The Nation, "Shattered by horrific events", 29 April 2006] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119102151/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/south2years/apr2906.php |date=January 19, 2012 }}</ref> Thirty-two insurgents retreated to the Krue Sae Mosque, the main mosque in Pattani. A seven-hour standoff ended when Pallop, the senior army commander on the scene, ordered an assault on the mosque; all the insurgents were killed. He later said, "I had no choice. I was afraid that as time passed the crowd would become sympathetic to the insurgents, to the point of trying to rescue them."<ref>[http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/south2years/apr2904.php The Nation, "Southern Carnage: Kingdom Shaken", 29 April 2004] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119054750/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/south2years/apr2904.php |date=January 19, 2012 }}</ref>
It was learned that Pallop's order to storm the mosque contravened an order by defense minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to seek a peaceful resolution to the standoff, regardless of how long it took.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.countercurrents.org/hr-achr060504.htm|title=Killings At Pattani's Krue Se Mosque And A Cover Up Enquiry|website=www.countercurrents.org}}</ref> Pallop was immediately ordered out of the area, and later tendered his resignation as commander of the Southern Peace Enhancement Center. The forward command of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), which Pallop headed, was also dissolved. Although a governmental investigative commission found that security forces had overreacted, the Asian Centre for Human Rights questioned the commission's independence and impartiality. During a 3 May 2004 Senate hearing, Senator Kraisak Choonhavan noted that most of those killed at Krue Se Mosque were shot in the head and had signs that their wrists had been tied. The incident sparked conflict between Pallop and Defense Minister Chavalit (who was also director of the ISOC),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.seasite.niu.edu/hartmann/TranslationProject/a101_120/a105.htm |title=Wassana Nanuam, "Panlop to face trial for the storming of Krue Se mosque" |access-date=2006-08-25 |archive-date=2012-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315222517/http://www.seasite.niu.edu/hartmann/TranslationProject/a101_120/a105.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Pallop later demanded that the defense minister end his involvement in managing the southern insurgency.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.seasite.niu.edu/hartmann/TranslationProject/a81_100/a85.htm |title=Wassana Nanuam, "Security conflicts erupt in open" |access-date=2006-08-25 |archive-date=2012-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315222527/http://www.seasite.niu.edu/hartmann/TranslationProject/a81_100/a85.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh compared Pallop to American General Douglas MacArthur.<ref>{{Cite CiteSeerX|citeseerx = 10.1.1.855.1452|title = Lessons Not Learned: The Rekindling of Thailand's Pattani Problem." Unpublished M.A. Thesis|year = 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://facthaibackup.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/nonviolence-needed-in-patani-the-nation/|title=Nonviolence needed in Patani-The Nation|date=29 April 2009}}</ref>
== Opposition to Thaksin Shinawatra == Pallop is critical of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. During protests against Thaksin in early 2006, Pallop said: "As a real friend and former classmate from military school, I fully support Chamlong (Srimuang) in his move [to oust Thaksin]".<ref name="irrawaddy.org"/> He also threatened Thaksin with a military coup if Thaksin did not resign from the premiership.<ref>{{Cite newsgroup|newsgroup=soc.culture.thai |title=Military Coup in the offing|date=27 Feb 2006|message-id=1141062401.367654.325160@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com <!--googleid=f9152f0e09a8a0c7-->}} ''Bangkok Post'', "Panlop: Military coup possible", 27 February 2006</ref>
=== {{anchor|Assassination plot against Thaksin Shinawatra}}Assassination plot === Pallop was dismissed from his ISOC deputy-director position after Thawatchai Klinchana, his driver, was found driving a car containing 4.5 kg of explosives near Thaksin's residence. According to Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Wiroj Jantharangsee, the explosives were assembled, equipped with a remote sensor and ready to be detonated.<ref>[http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/headlines/headlines_30011945.php ''The Nation'', 'Bomb plot to kill Thaksin foiled', questions linger, 15 August 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104175411/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/headlines/headlines_30011945.php |date=4 November 2016 }}</ref> Kamthorn Ooycharoen, head of the police bomb-disposal squad at the scene, confirmed that the bomb was ready for detonation.<ref name="The Nation">{{Cite web |url=http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/26/politics/politics_30012040.php |title=''The Nation'', "Explosives 'live and ready for detonation'", 26 August 2006 |access-date=2006-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210140535/http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/26/politics/politics_30012040.php |archive-date=2012-02-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was composed of a remote control unit, M-8 military fuses,{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} sticks of TNT, C-4 plastic explosives, and nine plastic containers containing ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO).<ref name="bangkokpost.net"/><ref name="The Nation"/>
Pallop denied any involvement: "If had wanted to do it, I would have done it more subtly. In my career, I have led death squads. If I had wanted to kill him, the prime minister would not have escaped".'<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/national/national_30011902.php |title='If I was behind it, PM would be dead' |access-date=2011-11-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105130053/http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/national/national_30011902.php |archive-date=2011-11-05 }} ''The Nation'', 'If I was behind it, PM would be dead', 25 August 2006, Retrieved 25 August 2006{{failed verification|date=November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/most-recent?id=112432|title=Bangkok Post - Most recent|website=www.bangkokpost.com}}</ref><ref>[http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30011881 ''The Nation'', "Army officer arrested in alleged car bomb attempt is Pallop's driver: police", 25 August 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529112134/http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30011881 |date=29 May 2009 }}</ref> According to him, "The explosives were being transported; they were not assembled to be detonated."<ref>[http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/national/national_30011902.php ''The Nation'', "'If I was behind it, PM would be dead'", 25 August 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105130053/http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/25/national/national_30011902.php |date=5 November 2011 }}</ref>
A military coup overthrew the Thaksin government on 19 September 2006, and the junta appointed Pallop public-relations adviser to the ISOC in May 2007. He promised to use "secret tricks" and negotiation, avoiding violent clashes: "Don't see me as a man who favours violence".<ref>{{cite news|title=Pallop plans to first tackle rallies in city|url=http://pages.citebite.com/p1x6i8f1s9enc|access-date=26 February 2014|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=12 May 2007|author=Wassana Nanuam}}</ref>
== Support for Thaksin Shinawatra == Prior to the 2011 election Pallop eventually changed sides and joined the pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai Party as well as its associated activist group United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD, also known as the 'Red Shirts'). However a highly public falling out with the leaders of the UDD, over tactics in 2010, ended his role within the latter organisation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Panlop quits red shirts|url=https://www.pressreader.com/thailand/the-nation/20100206/282316791181205|access-date=9 October 2018|newspaper=Asia One|date=24 May 2014|author=THE NATION}}</ref> He also served as an advisor to Thaksin's sister Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.<ref>{{cite news|title=Thai coup: Retired senior police officers summoned|url=http://www.asiaone.com/asia/thai-coup-retired-senior-police-officers-summoned|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009211849/http://www.asiaone.com/asia/thai-coup-retired-senior-police-officers-summoned|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 9, 2018|access-date=9 October 2018|newspaper=Asia One|date=6 February 2010|author=THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK}}</ref>
In 2012 Pallop as a security adviser to the prime minister, says he plans to bring former premier Thaksin Shinawatra back to Thailand that year. Pallop proposed the collecting of 20,000 signatures to submit an amnesty bill to parliament, as one way to bring Thaksin back if the national reconciliation proposal by the King Prajadhipok Institute does not result in an amnesty for the exiled politician. Pallop said the Pheu Thai Party promised an amnesty bill allowing Thaksin to come back, during the election campaign in Buri Ram last year, and the pledge must be fulfilled. Pallop was confident the bill would pass parliament. Pallop also divulged that he had met Thaksin in person and that he had agreed with the idea of the amnesty bill. The failure of the amnesty bill led to the 2013–2014 Thai political crisis.<ref>{{cite news|title=Panlop unveils plan for Thaksin return |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/286133/panlop-unveils-plan-for-thaksin-return|access-date=9 October 2018|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=22 March 2012}}</ref>
During the political crisis which began in October 2013, Pallop told the media in late February 2014 that he had been asked by the caretaker government (under Yingluck) to join the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO).<ref>{{cite news|title=Get Ready for a Bloody End Game in Thailand|url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-26/get-ready-for-a-bloody-end-game-in-thailand#r=shared|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226223028/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-26/get-ready-for-a-bloody-end-game-in-thailand#r=shared|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 26, 2014|access-date=28 February 2014|newspaper=Bloomberg Businessweek|date=26 February 2014|author=Joshua Kurlantzick}}</ref> He was also recruited as an advisor to a new movement led by Suporn Attawong, Deputy secretary-general to the prime minister and red-shirt leader. Suporn planned to recruit 600,000 young men to join the new pro-government Democracy Protection Volunteers Group as an opposition to the People's Democratic Reform Committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=Red shirt hardliner seeks 600,000 men |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/most-recent/397339/red-shirt-hardliner-seeks-600000-volunteers |access-date=9 October 2018|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=27 February 2014|author=Wassana Nanuam|author2=Prasit Tangprasert|author3=Chakhapan Natunri}}</ref> According to an Australian academic, Pallop was recruited to advise on dealing with "men in black" gunmen at protests; the term originated during the 2010 crackdown on red-shirt supporters, when mysterious armed figures emerged.<ref>{{cite news|title=Neros fiddle while Thailand's slow burn threatens to flare|url=http://theconversation.com/neros-fiddle-while-thailands-slow-burn-threatens-to-flare-23618|access-date=26 February 2014|newspaper=The Conversation Australia|date=25 February 2014|author=Gavan Butler}}</ref> Military sources have said that the "men in black" may be mercenaries.<ref>{{cite news|title=Here come the men in black, again|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/395242/here-come-the-men-in-black-again|access-date=26 February 2014|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=16 February 2014|author=Wassana Nanuam|author2=Achara Ashayagachat|author3=Subin Khuenkaew}}</ref>
Pallop is opposed to the National Council for Peace and Order, the ruling junta since 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=Retired generals deny involvement in bombing of Bangkok hospital|url=https://www.nationthailand.com/detail/national/30316440|access-date=9 October 2018|newspaper=The Nation|date=27 May 2017}}</ref>
==Election== Pallop used to run for election in constituency one Bangkok (districts of Dusit, Bang Sue, Ratchathewi), belongs to the Democrat Party in the general election at the end of 1996, but was not elected.<ref name=cit>{{cite web|url=http://office2.bangkok.go.th/ard/wp-content/uploads/election/1.14.pdf|title=ประกาศกรุงเทพมหานคร เรื่อง ผลการเลือกตั้ง|language=thai|work=Bangkok.go.th|access-date=2023-05-18|archive-date=2023-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518221006/http://office2.bangkok.go.th/ard/wp-content/uploads/election/1.14.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Personal life== Pallop is married to Khunying Naruedee Pinmanee,<ref>Bangkok Post, [http://www.bangkokpost.com/150106_Perspect...2006_pers03.php General urges two-pronged attack], 15 January 2006 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204044155/http://www.bangkokpost.com/150106_Perspect...2006_pers03.php |date=4 February 2016 }}</ref> and has a son and two daughters.<ref name="Archived copy"/>
==Military rank== * 1995 Lieutenant General of the Royal Thai Army * 1996 General of the Royal Thai Army<ref name="ratchakitcha.soc.go.th"/>
== Honours == Pallop received the following royal decorations in the Honours System of Thailand :
* 80x80px Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant * 80x80px Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Noble Order of the Crown * 80x80px Victory Medal - Vietnam War, with flames * 80x80px Freemen Safeguarding Medal, First Class * 80x80px Border Service Medal * 80x80px Chakra Mala Medal
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060831194710/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/south2years/menu.php Fire on South], a collection of articles from The Nation on major incidents in the South Thailand insurgency. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060715032700/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/takbai/index.htm Tak Bai and Krue Sae Report], summary of the official investigative report on the storming of Krue Sae Mosque.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinmanee, Pallop}} Category:1936 births Category:Living people Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee Pallop Pinmanee