BANGKOK, 9 March 2005 — Thailand has invited the head of the world’s largest Muslim group to visit, as the government seeks to temper criticism from the Muslim world over its crackdown on insurgents, the foreign minister said yesterday.
“I have invited the OIC secretary general to make an official visit to Thailand, as his predecessor did,” Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters.
Thailand delivered the invitation Saturday, when a three-member team was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to brief Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on the government’s policies in the deep south.
More than 630 people have been killed since an Islamic separatist insurgency broke out in January 2004.
The government’s tough response has strained relations with several Muslim countries, including Thailand’s predominantly Muslim neighbor, Malaysia, which holds the chairmanship of the 57-nation OIC.
A member of the Thai delegation, former ambassador to Malaysia Nissai Vejjajiva, said the team had explained the findings of investigations into two bloody and controversial clashes between security forces and militants and protesters.
The army has removed three generals from their command posts in the south and transferred them to advisory positions over one of the incidents, the Oct. 25 crackdown on protesters that left 87 dead, including 78 who died in custody.
The team also briefed the OIC chief on a probe into the April 28 siege of the 400-year-old Krue Se mosque where 32 insurgents were killed as security forces repelled insurgent attacks from across the south. A total of 113 people were killed that day, making it one of the bloodiest days in recent Thai history.
The complete findings of the two investigations have never been released to the public.
“We have explained to the OIC secretary general that the violence has been committed by militants who have injured and killed many people, both Muslims and Buddhists,” Nissai said. Residents of the three southern provinces hit by the insurgency are mainly Muslim and ethnic Malays.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Army yesterday defended its decision to transfer the generals. “The three generals carried out their duties in good faith, but they must take responsibility for the mistake by being transferred from their posts,” army spokesman Col. Acar Tiproch said.
Army southern commander Lt. Gen. Pisarn Wattanawongkeeree, Maj. Gen. Sinchai Nutsathit and Maj. Gen. Chalermchai Wirunthep were found negligent in their duties by an army investigation into the Oct. 25 tragedy.
A source at the Defense Ministry said military rules prevented harsher punishment for high-ranking officials, but said the military would lay official blame for the incident on the three generals. Muslim leaders are demanding the three face prosecution.
“Unless justice in the case is done through our country’s legal system, one should not expect a swift return to peace and reconciliation in the region,” Nideh Waba, a member of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, told the Bangkok Post.
