Abhisit vows refugee cruelty answers, Bangkok Post

Rights groups demand disciplinary action

Claims the navy has ill-treated Rohingya boat people will be raised in talks on Monday between Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and human rights advocates.

“I will meet human rights officials to talk about everything including violations of human rights and a few current incidents which have been reported,” Mr Abhisit said.

He said this would include the Rohingyas.

Human rights groups have accused the Thai navy of forcing Burmese Muslim boat people back into the Andaman Sea with little food and water.

Survivors have told human rights groups they were abandoned in open waters with their hands bound.

Director of the Research Centre for Peace Building at Mahidol University Gothom Arya, who will join the meeting today, urged the prime minister to take disciplinary action against anyone found to have mistreated the boat people.

Indian Coast Guard commander S.P. Sharma said Indian ships had “rescued 446 Bangladeshi and Burmese refugees from four boats” since Dec 29.

“Interviews with survivors reveal they are Rohingya boat people living along the Burma-Bangladesh border,” he said. “We fear several hundred are still missing.”

Mr Sharma said the migrants told Indian authorities they had been arrested by Thai officials before being set adrift on Dec 17 or 18 on boats without either engines or navigational equipment.

“Some survivors also said their boat was towed out to sea by the Thai navy and the occupants given two sacks of boiled rice and two gallons [nine litres] of water before being abandoned in the middle of the sea,” he said.

A police official on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Ranjit Narayan, said the “latest batch of 152” were rescued on Saturday.

“We alerted the coast guard on Tuesday, who reached them days later as the seas were rough. Some of those rescued were in pretty bad shape,” he said.

Survivors told Indian officials they were promised jobs in Thailand and Indonesia by agents in Bangladesh.

“Soon after they set sail they were captured by some men wearing what they described as Thai army and navy uniforms. After their capture they said they were taken to an island off the Thai coast and beaten up before being forced into boats and pushed into the high seas,” Mr Narayan said.

Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabatara and Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) spokesman Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng denied mistreating Ronghingyas arriving in Thailand by boat along the Andaman coast.

“I can confirm that the Thai armed forces never use any inhumane treatment,” Gen Songkitti said.

“The allegations have no substance.”

Col Thanathip said the authorities had adhered to human rights principles in their handling of the boat people, adding that Isoc secretary-general Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha was concerned about the claims. Gen Songkitti said Thailand would not allow them to stay in the country and wondered about their motives, as none of the Burmese boat people were women, children or elderly.

With the small boats they used, it was almost impossible to travel from their country to Thailand, he said.

Some security agencies believe the Rohingyas may have been trying to join insurgents in the restive southern region rather than looking for work outside Burma.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya will meet ministry and other officials today to discuss the allegations.

The Foreign Ministry will also hold talks with ambassadors from Burma, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India to discuss a clampdown on human traffickers and better share intelligence information, Mr Kasit said.

By: ANUCHA CHAROENPO and WASSANA NANUAM and AFP
Published: 19/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News