By D. Arul Rajoo, Bernama,
Bangkok : Leaders of the separatist insurgency in southern Thailand must end the targeting of civilians in their effort to establish an independent state as their tactics are illegal and cannot be justified in any circumstances, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.
Brad Adams, director of the Asia division at the New York-based HRW, said while insurgent groups continue to unleash brutality on civilians to demonstrate their power and weaken the credibility of Thai authorities, retaliating against government abuses does not provide any excuse for killing civilians.
“Leaders of the insurgency need to rethink their tactics, which are not only abhorrent, but also are alienating large sections of public opinion in the south, including in their own community,” said Adams in HRW’s latest update of the situation in the three Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
Over the past four years, more than 20 Buddhist Thais have been beheaded by insurgents across the southern border provinces, he said, as another Buddhist couple were shot and burnt to death in Pattani today.
On July 4, insurgents beheaded Khan Sangthong, a 55-year-old Buddhist, in Bannang Sata district of Yala province which had been carried out in apparent reprisal for the recent killing in a firefight of local insurgent leader Koseng Apibanbae and five other members of his cell by government security forces on June 23.
“He was shot, burned, had nails hammered through his hands, and was beheaded. His severed head was placed on a bridge about 60 metres from his body,” the report said.
Similar retaliatory attacks took place in Yala’s Raman district after Abdulloh Da-esor, younger brother of local insurgent leader Abdulroning Da-esor, was killed with other two insurgents in a gunfight with government security forces on March 28.
On July 2, Veera Muenjan, the 54-year-old principal of Ban Ma Hae School, was shot dead by insurgents while three days later, three Muslims – who allegedly worked as informants for the army – were killed and three others were wounded when insurgents opened fire at a crowded teashop not far from where Veera was murdered.
Similar incidents also took place in Narathiwat, said HRW, citing the July 2 murder of Wanna Sisuan, a 27-year-old Buddhist woman who was shot in the head by insurgents in Rue Soh district after dropping her children at school.
A leaflet was left next to her body saying, “Soldiers killed Malayu [ethnic Malay] people. So, we will kill Thai people.”
More than 3,300 people have died since violence escalated in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani where separatists are fighting to seek independence for the three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia.
He said insurgents claim that the civilians attacked were part of a larger group (Buddhist Thais) that are participating in the hostilities, but the laws of war allow no such defense or justification for attacks on civilians.
Furthermore, he said radical interpretations of Islamic law that would permit attacks on civilians in certain circumstances are also contrary to the laws of war.
“International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits insurgent tactics such as reprisal attacks against civilians and captured combatants, summary execution of civilians or captured combatants, mutilation or other mistreatment of the dead, and attacks directed at civilian facilities,” he said.
The report said although the Pejuang Kemerdekaan Pattani (Pattani Freedom Fighters), separatist insurgents in the loose network of BRN-Coordinate (National Revolution Front-Coordinate), have suffered major setbacks from security sweeps, they still maintain their presence in hundreds of Muslim villages.
Adams said they use state-sponsored abuses and heavy-handed tactics to justify their campaign of violence and terror.
“Neither side in this devastating conflict pays enough attention to protecting the lives and rights of the local residents. People in the south are trapped between violently abusive insurgents and government forces,” Adams said.