In its first meeting yesterday, an independent committee looking into 2,569 drug-related killings during the first Thaksin Shinawatra government laid out its work agenda and officially appointed heads of six sub-panels.

The 12-member committee, headed by former attorney-general Khanit na Nakhon, repeated that it was authorised to prosecute anyone found to be involved in the killings and would mainly perform a fact-finding role and work out compensatory solutions for relatives of the victims.

Former senator Kraisak Chonhavan, who heads the sub-panel on research and international public relations, said it was better late than never for the committee to be set up.

[continues 146 words]

The Justice Ministry is setting up a special committee to study the Thaksin government's war on drugs and its impact on innocent victims, so that proper financial help can be extended to them and their families.

Deputy justice permanent secretary Charnchao Chaiyanukij said the secretary-general of the Office of the Prime Minister sent a letter to the ministry last week instructing it to set up the committee.

Mr Charnchao said the ministry had invited former attorney-general Khanit na Nakhon to chair the panel.

[continues 311 words]

Dear former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra: This is not a letter from hell. However, it doesn't matter where I live, or to be exact, where I'm drifting.

Just wanna say "Hi", although you surely don't even know me. We have something in common despite the big difference between us: I'm dead, literally, and you're still alive.

I have been a wandering ghost since police gunned me down in 2003, and I guess you, too, now know how it feels to be a drifter. Again, having to float from one spirit house to another in search of boiled eggs is a far cry from dining and lunching at Harrods or having the world's best roasted duck every other day. But I just want to give you my sympathy all the same.

[continues 659 words]

Unstable political situations in neighbouring countries have caused ethnic minorities to produce more methamphetamine tablets to be sold in Thailand, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said yesterday. ONCB secretary-general Kitti Limchaikij said the methamphetamine problem has returned. Although the problem may not be as serious as in the past, it could get worse if officials turn a blind eye to it.

Faced with an uncertain future, ethnic minorities in neighbouring countries are producing more methamphetamines in order to make money to fund their own development schemes, and their main market is Thailand, he said.

[continues 71 words]

Like most wars, the society problem often labelled as the "war on drugs" is a matter of many small battles. This war has had many ups and downs since the government of Gen Sarit Thanarat banned opium in 1959. It should not be surprising that drug trafficking and usage are increasing once again.

The powerful profits of the drug gangs, combined with corruption and inattention, make it certain that the drugs trade remains a threat. What is important for the well-being of the country is that authorities stay alert, and stop fighting this war with yesterday's battle tactics. The fact of resurgent drug trafficking now seems beyond debate. This will surprise some people, who thought that the murderous and intimidating campaign of the former government might be the decisive, winning battle. Under ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, police and anti-drug forces teamed up in a campaign to wipe out petty drug-dealing. A chief tactic was the extra-judicial murder. Neither the overall death toll nor the number of totally innocent people killed is known. The best guess is that somewhere around 1,200 people died.

[continues 493 words]

The Department of Special Investigation has evidence linking police to four extra-judicial killings during deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's war on drugs in 2003. Ex-premier Thaksin could face charges of incitement.

DSI director-general Sunai Manomai-udom said on Monday that all four cases were transferred from the police to the DSI which began its investigation in December 2006 following complaints lodged by victims' families.

The four cases were the death of a nine-year-old boy, alias Nong Fluke, on Feb 23, 2003 and the subsequent disappearance of his mother; the killings of Nikhom Ounkaew and his wife Khanraya, in Nakhon Ratchasima's Khon Buri district on March 28, 2003; the deaths of Pongthep and Ampaiwan Rukhongprasert in Tak's Mae Sot district on May 18, 2003; and the killing of educator Samarn Thongdee in Tak's Muang district in April 2003.

[continues 278 words]

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied allegations against his personally having given orders to government authorities to kill drug suspects during his government's "war on drugs" campaign, his legal adviser said Saturday.

Lawyer Noppadol Pattama, legal adviser to Mr Thaksin's family, told journalists that he had telephoned the deposed prime minister in Beijing recently and was told that Mr Thaksin as well as his government had never given orders on any killings of drug-related suspects during the campaign.

[continues 297 words]

Surayud Likely to Chair It; Activists Delighted

Human rights activists yesterday hailed the prospect of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont chairing a meeting next week on extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs under the Thaksin Shinawatra government. Former senator Kraisak Choonhavan said no other prime minister had shown an interest in dealing with breaches of human rights. But he stressed that the task required no less than changing the mindset of state officials who had been "programmed" to kill.

"This is worthier than an apology. It shows he is serious," Mr Kraisak said.

[continues 545 words]

Few things can keep Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont from chairing the meeting on extra-judicial killings at the Department of Special Investigation on Friday. His show of interest in the issue has raised the hopes of relatives of the victims of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's war on drugs, and human rights defenders across the country.

The meeting of the DSI's committee on special cases, which Gen Surayud chairs in his capacity as prime minister, is due to decide which of the extra-judicial killings it should take on.

[continues 562 words]

Ban Mae Maeh School director Saneh Jai-ut can never bring himself to speak the truth when his students ask him expectantly: "Have you had any word from my parents?"

Most of the 136 boarding-school students here come from families torn apart during the Thaksin Shinawatra government's war on drugs.

Some of the children are yet to learn the painful fact that their parents are either in jail for drug offences or were killed in the crackdown.

"The best thing I can say is, 'Yes, your parents ask

[continues 379 words]

New investigations are set to begin into the death of more than 2,500 people in the war on drugs launched by the Thaksin government. They are to determine how many of those killed were really drug dealers. Former senator Kraisak Choonhavan has also called on the Justice Ministry to look into suspected human rights violations in the restive South. He met the permanent secretary for justice and asked him to order the Department of Special Investigation to look into these cases.

[continues 218 words]

Thaksin Shinawatra's declaration of his war on drugs in 2003 would not have resulted in 2,500 cases of mostly unsolved deaths had he used more common sense and a meticulously thought-out plan.

As a result, a large number of those killed during the first few months of the campaign have been claimed to be innocent and hard-working Thais, including elderly people, pregnant women and even small children.

During his leadership, Mr Thaksin has been accused of using his emotions before using his reasoning power on several important issues. It was also rumoured that Mr Thaksin had a personal motive in this particular matter in dispute: one of his close relatives got hooked on amphetamines and thus he was furious at the prevalence of the drug in the country, hence the campaign that resulted in thousands of unseemly deaths.

The 2003 war on drugs was just one example of Mr Thaksin's lack of leadership quality and characteristics.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

[end]

The Lawyers Council of Thailand and the National Human Rights Commission will submit to the Justice Ministry details of 40 apparently innocent victims believed to have been killed by police during the war on drugs. Somchai Homla-or, chairman of the council's human rights committee, said the two agencies found that in at least 40 of 2,500 cases innocent people had been gunned down by police in extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs launched by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

[continues 206 words]

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Lawyers Council of Thailand are pressing the government to ratify the convention on the International Criminal Court so deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could be tried for crimes against humanity over his controversial anti-drugs campaign. The council and former lawmakers accused the Thaksin administration of having blood on its hands for waging its so-called war on drugs which killed more than 2,000 people, most of them drug traders and traffickers. The government must bring Mr Thaksin to justice or the Sept 19 military coup which swept it to power would amount to nothing but a public deception, they said.

[continues 655 words]

Bloody Campaign Was A Crime Against Humanity, Rights Commissioner Says

Ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his government should be held to account for the systematic killings of more than 2,500 people during the notorious "war on drugs", National Human Rights Commission chairman Somchai Homla-or said yesterday.

"Thaksin and his government committed crimes against humanity," Somchai said at a seminar.

The seminar focused on the violation of human rights in the many cases that the Thaksin-led government labelled as "silence killings", in which small-scale drug dealers were allegedly

[continues 347 words]

Justice Ministry officials are now collecting evidence related to the extra-judicial killings of some 2,500 people during the Thaksin government's war on drugs campaign, said a senior official of the ministry today.

Jarun Pukditanakul, Permanent Secretary for Justice, told journalists that concerned officials were now collecting evidence after complaints were lodged and said that he expected that the re-examination process should be completed soon.

Asked whether the decision to re-examine possible human rights violations was adopted after a request by Kraisak Choonhavan, a former Nakhon Ratchasima senator, Mr. Jarun said that Mr. Kraisak only submitted evidence on a former senator who was shot dead in the South.

[continues 161 words]

Kraisak Wants DSI to Hold New Inquiries

Kraisak Choonhavan, a former Nakhon Ratchasima senator, has urged the Justice Ministry to re-examine the human rights violations which occurred during the rule of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He said the interim government should attach importance to the cases because the United Nations had submitted 26 questions on them to Thai authorities last year.

"More than 2,000 people died in the extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs launched by the Thaksin government in 2003. It was believed that state officials were also involved in many of the deaths," said Mr Kraisak after an hour-long meeting with Justice Permanent Secretary Jarun Pukditanakul.

[continues 235 words]

In the 'war on drugs' in Thailand in 2003, around 3,000 people died with no proper judicial accounting. The National Human Rights Commission has assembled convincing evidence that several victims had no involvement in drug trading. The mechanics of the campaign were lethally simple. Provincial governors and police chiefs were told to eliminate drug trading. Blacklists of names were compiled and success was measured against numerical targets.

It has been a bad few weeks for national leaders who might have their own people's blood on their hands. Saddam Hussein was condemned to death for atrocities at Dujail. President Arroyo of the Philippines was charged in an international court with human rights violations. The case against Arroyo, which details torture, abductions, 186 forced disappearances, and 778 killings was spearheaded by a senator and supported by relatives of several victims. The Permanent People's Tribunal in The Hague is a self-constituted court which has no power to enforce punishments, but considerable moral authority because it is run by eminent international jurists.

[continues 884 words]

Five years ago, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan fled along with its Arab terrorist allies in the US invasion that followed the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Since then, the country has failed to establish a decent, functioning government. Despite much aid and strong support from the United Nations and the world, Afghanistan is in desperate trouble. The viable economy consists almost entirely of opium production and drug trafficking. Terrorism, particularly suicide bombers, threatens life everywhere. The Taliban army, routed but not disintegrated in 2001, has regrouped and remains a deadly military threat. There are open fears in Afghanistan that the Taliban rebels pose an actual threat to central power. The commander of Nato forces, British Gen David Richards, believes the Kabul government and international supporters have as little as six months before the Taliban begin to make major gains. The extremists have survived by mounting tough military resistance in the Afghan mountains. But, says Gen Richards and his Nato staff, the Afghan people are beginning to miss the social order and security of the Taliban days more than they appreciate their current freedom. The Afghanistan government, the United Nations and Nato must solve three major problems if they are to prevent failure.

[continues 453 words]

Last week, the (now) deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra went to the U.S., to give a speech at the U.N. and have his picture taken with his friends in Washington. But folks back home in Thailand weren't exactly "down" with the PM's activities over the past few years. Activities like egging on Thai police to summarily execute thousands of Thai drug "offenders." Harsh, foul concentration camps awaited those blacklisted individuals who turned themselves in, but often they were simply executed anyway, gunned down on the street by masked motorcycle assailants (police).

[continues 202 words]