New York - Human Righhts Watch on Tuesday called on the
Thai government to put an end to the 'disappearances' of suspected
Muslim militants in the deep South, where more than 2,000 people have
fallen victim to an escalating insurgency since 2004.
In a 69-page report released Tuesday, the New York-based human
rights group documented 22 cases of unresolved 'disappearances' in
the deep South with the evidence strongly indicating that the Thai
security forces were responsible.
'The Thai security forces are using 'disappearances' as a way to
weaken the militants and instill fear in the Malay Muslim community,'
said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. 'These
'disappearances' appear to be a matter of policy, not simply the work
of rogue elements in the security services.'
HRW acknowleged that most of the disappearances occurred under
the administrations of Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, known for his strong-arm tactics in suppressing the
insurgents in the region, comprising Thailand's southernmost
provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.
But Adams said the current government, installed after Thaksin
was ousted by a military coup on September 19, last year, must do
more to investigate the disappearances and prosecute those
responsible.
'Thailand 's government needs to make a clear and public statement
of policy against 'disappearances' and take action against those
responsible for this crime,' Adams said.
According to the HRW report, disappearances of ethnic Malay
Muslims suspected of participating in the insurgency began a few days
after Thaksin pressured police and soldiers to quickly arrest those
responsible for the attack on the army camp in Narathiwat province on
January 4, 2004, in which 300 rifles were stolen.
The incident has been cited as the watermark for the rise in
Muslim militancy in the region.
Disappearances and lack of justice for their families has been
listed as one of the reasons for the increasing opposition to Bangkok
by the majority Muslim population in the three provinces, that border
Malaysia.
'While most 'disappearances' took place during Thaksin's rule,
many of the senior military and police officials who carried out this
policy remain on active duty,' said Adams. 'Thaksin acknowledged
these abuses in 2005, yet nothing has been done to stop or punish
those responsible.'
Although the current government under appointed Prime Ministger
Surayud Chulanont has issued a public apology foir past atrocities
and adopted a more conciliatory approach towards the rebels, little
has been done to bring past abuses to justice, noted HRW.
'General Surayad vowed to make justice a priority, but his
government still fails to hold officials accountable for these
crimes,' said Adams.
The human rights group urged the Thai government to conduct
prompt, independent and impartial investigations into allegations of
enforced disappearances, and prosecute those found responsible.
The deep South was once an independent Islamic sultanate called
Pattani, before the region was conquered by Bangkok in 1786. It was
placed under direct rule of the Thai bureaucracy in 1902.
The south's separatist struggle has been fuelled by the local
population's sense of religious and cultural alienation from the
predominantly Buddhist Thai state.
More than 80 per cent of the 2 million people in the
three-province region describe themselves as Muslims of ethnic Malay
descent who have closer cultural affinities with neighbouring
Malaysia than with the predominantly Buddhist Thai kingdom.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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