HUMAN RIGHTS ALARM OVER BLOODY DRUGS CRACKDOWN

Thailand's mountainous Chiang Rai province lies in the heart of the
Golden Triangle, a traditional opium production centre.

Although much of Thai poppy cultivation was wiped out decades ago,
Chiang Rai remains an important hub for the narcotics trade - a key
trafficking route for drugs from neighbouring Burma.

For Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's prime minister, an aggressive
campaign to combat an epidemic of methamphetamine use in Thailand has
been a priority.

But the violence of the anti-drugs crusade and the government's
apparent encouragement of the killings have raised alarm about human
rights and the rule of law in this young, still fragile democracy.

More than 2,600 people were killed in three months across Thailand.
The authorities have made little effort to apprehend or punish those
responsible, which human rights activists say has set a precedent with
disturbing political implications.

"The war on drugs is a Pandora's box," said Sunai Pasuk, of the
Bangkok-based civil liberties group Forum Asia. "What has been
unleashed by the administration is the culture of impunity and the
culture of fear. It has seriously restricted the ability of civil
society to disagree with government policy."

When Mr Thaksin announced a three-month drive to wipe out the
narcotics trade in February, he was armed with a blacklist of 66,000
people accused by police, local officials, village headmen and
neighbours of peddling or using drugs - though the allegations had not
been proven in court.

The premier said drug dealers belonged either in jail or at "the
temple" - where Thais take the dead for Buddhist ceremonies before
cremation. Provincial governors were ordered to get 75 per cent of
dealers off the streets, or risk losing their jobs. Effigies of drug
dealers were cursed and burned in public ceremonies, as police used
"an iron fist" against suspected traffickers.

In the ensuing bloodbath suspects were often shot by motorcycle-riding
gunmen. "The justice system was destroyed," said Senator Tuenjai
Deetes, who represents Chiang Rai. "Justice means you have a process
to see whether someone has acted against the law or not. Here, the
government official or police judged immediately, 'you are doing
drugs, you must be killed'."

As the death toll mounted, Mr Thaksin blamed the carnage on drug
dealers killing each other, or "bandits killing bandits". But local
human rights activists and Amnesty International said that
inflammatory public declarations from top leaders had incited violence
and created a permissive environment for unfettered killings by police
and others.

The US, which has supported Thai counter-narcotics efforts for
decades, also protested at the wave of "unexplained killings".

A Thai Senate committee found "the government used rhetoric and
ceremony to make people hate each other, to destroy the human dignity
of suspected drug dealers, and incite people to handle the drug
problem with violence and without mercy". Yet, as thousands of drug
suspects were hauled off to jail or rehabilitation, opinion polls
showed strong public support for the crackdown.

Mr Thaksin shrugged off the criticism and declared on May 1 that "90
per cent of the drug trade had been eliminated", although "mopping-up
operations", including fresh killings, have continued.

For Thailand's downtrodden ethnic minority "hill tribe" members, the
drug suppression campaign has had a chilling effect. Hill tribe
members had previously been lobbying to improve their rights and
status in Thai society. But after the carnage in their communities,
most are now terrified.

Twice vehicles carrying groups of minority people have been ambushed
and all those inside slaughtered. Many others fled their homes, while
a prominent female hill tribe activist, who had organised a large
minority rights demonstration, was seized, interrogated about alleged
drug trafficking links and later went into exile.

For all the concern about the violence, the supply of narcotics in
Thailand has been significantly reduced. But many suspect in time the
trade will be restored.

Mr Thaksin recently warned neighbouring countries - most
methamphetamines sold in Thailand are from Burma - that they would be
"regarded as an enemy of Thailand" if they allowed drugs to cross the
border.

Looking beyond the drugs war, with elections coming next year,
activists fear the "drug dealer" label may be used to taint, or
eliminate, government opponents or critics at the grassroots level.
"The government has used the war on drugs to test the level of public
approval and tolerance for all these controversial tactics," said
Forum Asia's Mr Sunai.

"It turned out very well in their eyes. From now on, if you are a
troublemaker and you disagree with the government, you can easily find
your name on a blacklist."