Thai PM says will revive deadly anti-drugs campaign
THAILAND: Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej pledged Friday to
revive a controversial anti-drugs campaign which human rights groups say
led to the extra-judicial killings of some 2,500 people.
The drugs war was initially launched by deposed premier Thaksin
Shinawatra, Samak’s political patron, to curb an alarming surge in the
flow of narcotics through the kingdom.
Although Thaksin’s get-tough campaign enjoyed widespread public
support and did stem the supply of narcotics, human rights groups
estimate at least 2,500 people died in extra-judicial killings in 2003
and 2004. Thaksin has always denied any wrongdoing.
Samak said Friday that the deaths were the result of in-fighting
among drug traffickers, but hinted the new campaign may also be bloody.
“My government will decisively implement a policy against drug
trafficking. Government officials must implement this policy 24 hours a
day, but I will not set a target for how many people should die,” he
said.
He also strongly defended Thaksin’s record on drugs.
“The drug traffickers were killing each other so that authorities
would not be able to question them and track down their big bosses,” he
told reporters, referring to the earlier deaths.
“I have no doubt that 2,500 people were killed. It could even be
5,000, but what can the government do when they are killing each other?”
he added. “If (the) police killed someone, then we would call that an
extra-judicial killing. There are only 59 such cases, and the police are
standing trial for those deaths.”
After the military toppled Thaksin’s government in a September 2006
coup, the army-backed government opened a new investigation into the
drugs war.
That probe, however, concluded there was no evidence to take legal
action against the former premier over the deaths.
Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile since the coup but says he
plans to return to Thailand by May now that his political allies have
returned to power following December elections.
Bangkok, Friday, AFP |
