January 4, 2005

Muslim leaders, academics slam Thaksin govt's handling of insurgency

ANUCHA CHAROENPO

Exactly a year ago today violence erupted in the deep South and, after

the deaths of around 500 people since, Muslim religious leaders and

academics have slammed what they say has been the government's

mismanagement of the situation for the desperate state of affairs.

They said the government's failure to encourage or allow Muslim

participation in dealing with southern unrest, to respect their basic

human rights, and to ensure justice for all the Muslim suspects in

violent attacks had created disunity and distrust between local people

and the state.

As a result, there has been little progress in ending the violence

since Muslim militants raided a military camp in Narathiwat's Cho Airong

district on Jan 4 last year and it has actually worsened.

After the attack, rebels began to kill innocent civilians, both

Buddhist and Muslim, on an almost daily basis, along with monks and

state officials, staged arson attacks on schools and temples, continued

to steal more weapons and intensified their bombing campaign in the

three largely Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

On the other hand, they said soldiers and police resorted to their own

violent methods against Muslim suspects culminating in the killing of

106 militants on April 28 at the Krue Se mosque and the deaths of 85

protesters during and after the Tak Bai riot on Oct 25.

Nimu Makajae, deputy chairman of the Yala Islamic Committee, said he

was sure most Muslims in the South continued to feel they had been

treated unfairly by the authorities over the past year.

``The government did not listen to the voices of local people in

finding the right way to deal with the violence. It adopted measures

that were inappropriate and unnecessary,'' Mr Nimu said.

He was referring to the declaration of martial law in the deep South

which gave soldiers the authority to arrest and question suspects

without a court order. He said this practice had simply led soldiers to

abuse their powers and, in the process, violate people's basic human

rights.

He claimed the imposition of martial law had also resulted in Muslims

being abducted by security forces and perishing without trace while

others had been assaulted and tortured.

Martial law should be abolished as soon as possible and replaced by

measures to forge understanding and build trust between Muslims and the

state, he said.

Abdullah Habru, a Pattani-based Prince of Songkhla University lecturer

on Islamic studies, called for the government to withdraw troops from

some areas of the South as he said this might help reduce tensions and

finally bring about peace and unity.

``We should help come up with constructive measures to deal with the

ongoing violence in the deep South rather than aggressive ones,'' he

said.

He warned of more violence to come in the region this year if the new

government does not make strenuous efforts to overcome the climate of

fear and distrust between the authorities and Muslims, and maintained

its aggressive stance.

Voravit Baru, vice rector of the same university, said that to deal

with the South effectively, all local security agencies must change

their image into ``service agencies'' to encourage locals to cooperate

with them just as they used to with the now-defunct 43rd

Military-Civil-Police Command and the Southern Border Provincial

Administrative Centre (SPBAC).

The SPBAC, disbanded by the Thaksin government, had administered the

region peacefully and successfully in the past.