PM rejects claims of torture in South
- Published: 15/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has rejected claims by Amnesty International that security forces engage in systematic torture in the insurgency-hit South.
‘We must win the hearts and the cooperation of local people, otherwise the situation will not change.’ ABHISIT VEJJAJIVA PRIME MINISTER
A report released by the rights group on Tuesday says four people have died while being tortured by soldiers and police in the Muslim-majority South, where separatist violence has intensified since early 2004.
"I want to reassure you that it's [torture] not government policy and it was not carried out systematically," Mr Abhisit said yesterday. "The government does not support use of extra-judicial power."
Amnesty said it had identified 34 cases of torture. While authorities officially condemn torture, it said the number of incidents meant they could not be dismissed as the work of a "few errant subordinates".
Mr Abhisit said he would investigate whether the incidents had taken place but questioned the accuracy of the Amnesty report.
He cited the case of an inquest last month - which ruled that a Muslim leader died after beatings by soldiers during interrogation - as being an example of how authorities do not tolerate or cover up torture.
On Saturday, Mr Abhisit will make his first visit to the South since coming to power last month. He has called for an increase in economic and cultural solutions to the unrest which has dogged the region for so long.
"We must win the hearts and the cooperation of local people, otherwise the situation will not change," he said.
Fourth army commander Lt-Gen Pichet Wisaijorn also rejected the report, saying the army wanted to solve the unrest peacefully and by respecting human rights.
"If anyone is found guilty, they would be prosecuted both under army and civilian law," he said.
On Tuesday, the government approved a three-month extension of the emergency decree in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat which will run from next Tuesday to April 19. This is the 14th time the decree has been extended. But the prime minister said that he hoped to lift the state of emergency decree one day.
"Lifting the emergency decree is our real goal. It should not be extended automatically," he said.
Meanwhile, two bombs went off at Sungai Kolok customs checkpoint in Narathiwat yesterday. No one was hurt.
The first bomb, hidden in an aluminium container in the checkpoint compound, exploded at 6.20am. About 10 minutes later, a second bomb hidden in another container, about three metres away from the scene of the first blast, went off.
In Yala, a volunteer ranger was wounded in an ambush while patrolling Krong Pinang sub-district. Sayant Makchoo, 30, was shot when his seven-member patrol unit arrived at Batukhor village shortly before 1pm.
About the author
- Writer: BANGKOK POST AND AFP
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