Thai troops stormed the centuries-old Krue Se mosque and killed 32 people inside.
BANGKOK, April 25, 2005 (IslamONline.net & News Agencies) – Two independent investigations into the deaths of nearly 200 Thai Muslims last year and published on Monday, April 25, accused the security forces of excessive use of force and negligence.
The probe into the massacre of the centuries-old Krue Se mosque, which was stormed by security forces on April 28 last year, accused the government of not giving a chance for negotiations, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Surrounding the mosque together with negotiation efforts could have led them to surrender,” the report concluded.
It maintained that “officials had no experience or training to face this kind of crisis situation and end it in a peaceful way.”
Thirty-two people were killed as they hid inside the centuries-old Krue Se mosque that was stormed by security forces.
The independent probe urged the government to “address this issue to prevent similar incidents in the future”.
It identified 11 senior officials who were involved in the siege, including former deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, former fourth army commander Lieutenant General Pisarn Wattanawongkiri, and General Phanlob Pinmanee, the deputy director for Internal Security Operation Command.
Rights groups had condemned Prime Minister Thaksin's Shinawatra's government for withholding the complete findings of the probes conducted by independent panels last year.
The newly-appointed National Reconciliation Commission, which began its work earlier this month, released the reports after editing them to remove the names of witnesses.
“The Commission realizes that disclosure of both reports will be just the beginning of the process to unveil truth in our society,” said its Chairman Anand Panyarachun, a respected former prime minister.
Negligence
The investigation into the Tak Bai protest -- when 87 Muslim protestors died, mainly of suffocation when they were detained, bound and then piled onto military trucks -- also found security forces poorly trained to deal with protesters.
“The probe found that senior officials were negligent and ignorant, allowing low-ranking officials who had no experience and who only wanted to finish their mission to take charge of the transportation.”
Thai newspapers Monday reprinted lengthy excerpts of the two independent investigations.
Critics at home and abroad have accused Thaksin's government of using heavy-handed tactics against Thai Muslims.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, recently expressed “serious dissatisfaction at the persisting bloody acts of violence perpetrated against Muslims in southern Thailand”.
He said violence against Muslims continued despite appeals made by the OIC and the international community to the Thai government to end the violations that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people.
Thaksin vowed on Thursday, February 17, to
crush “separatist revolt” in the south within four years, saying his government would cut off aid to villages who help the “separatists”.
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist nation but Muslims make up about five percent of the population.
They mostly live in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.