Thailand “must change” tough policy against Muslims

[sonz]

An independent body probing the situation in Thailand’s largely Muslim south warned that violence could surge if the government doesn’t change its tough policy, Reuters reported.

The National Reconciliation Commission, formed last year and led by former premier Anand Panyarachun, slammed both parties responsible for violence in southern Thailand, where more than 1,300 people died since early 2005.

But it urged the Thai government, which sent hundreds of troops to the Muslim-majority far south, to establish a powerful committee to find solutions.

"The use of violence to solve problems is not only misguided, but it has aggravated the situation," Anand said in a press conference before submitting a final fact-finding report to the government.

"The only way for Thai society to end this risky circle of violence is reconciliation," he said.

Anand also said that part of the problem in Thailand’s three southern Muslim-majority provinces was Muslim discontent at the abuse of power committed by police and other officials.

"Economic hardship, poverty and injustice have spawned conditions conducive to an anti-government campaign waged in and outside the country. They are being cited as reasons for resorting to violence," he said.

"We have found that religion has not been the cause of violence, although it is related in the sense that it is being used by some groups to justify violence.

"If this state of conditions does not improve, violence will erupt to the extent worse than spates of arson we saw in the second half of 2005," Anand said.

The former Prime Minister also said that Muslim civilians bore the brunt of violence.

“I believe the relations between the state and people would reach a worrying stage as Muslims would distrust the government as they are unsure whether the government is behind the violence,” he added.

Anand also urged the government to establish a fund to compensate families of Muslim victims who died due to the government's abuses.

“We are quite confident these proposals could help solve problems in the long run. But it depends on how the government would respond to our proposals and on whether it can change the way it is used to doing things," Anand said.

Muslims accuse the mainly Buddhist Thai authorities of a litany of abuses in the southern region where 80 percent of the population are Muslim, ethnic Malay and non-Thai speaking.

Thailand's three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were all an independent Muslim sultanate before being annexed a century ago.

[lavikor201]

Why were the three annexed?