THAILAND'S DRUG WAR LEAVES OVER 1,000 DEAD

Brutal Campaign Draws Concern of Rights Groups

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- When Thailand's prime minister launched a campaign
Feb. 1 to eradicate drugs from his country within three months, skeptics
predicted the effort would prove no more successful than his earlier
pledges to eliminate pollution and untangle Bangkok's notorious traffic jams.

But within days, the seriousness of the initiative became brutally clear.
Police reported at least 300 drug-related slayings over the first two
weeks, and by March 1, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced that
1,100 people had been killed during the offensive.

Government officials say most of the killings have been the result of
violence among rival drug gangs panicked by the crackdown. Police
acknowledge responsibility for only about 30 of the deaths, saying these
were largely self-defense shootings.

Human rights activists, however, suspect that many of the killings have
been carried out by Thai security forces and allied gunmen as they try to
meet Thaksin's quota for reducing the number of drug producers and dealers
on a government list of suspects.

"According to our research, most of them are killed by the police, because
they want to meet the target," said Somchai Homlaor, secretary general of
Forum Asia, a human rights group. "They think if the drug dealers are
brought to court, they will be released again. A better way to solve the
drug problem is to kill them."

His group reported it has uncovered at least three cases in which drugs
were planted on victims before their bodies were turned over to the coroner.

U.N. special human rights envoy Asma Jahangir recently added her "deep
concern" to the mounting criticism, issuing a statement citing "allegations
of excessive use of force resulting in extrajudicial executions."

Increasingly nervous about Thailand's international reputation, the Foreign
Ministry called diplomats from more than 50 countries to a briefing Monday
to make the government's case. "It's necessary for the government to take
decisive action to deal with the drug problem," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Sihasak Pheungketkaew said after the session. "We are not insensitive to
the concerns of the international community, but we want the international
community to see our side of the story."

Drug use has ravaged Thailand, where the government estimates 5 percent of
the population uses methamphetamines produced in the jungles just over the
border in Burma and known locally as "yaa baa" or crazy medicine. This
makes Thailand the world's largest consumer of the drug, according to the
United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board.

While vowing to continue the sweep, Sihasak said Foreign Ministry officials
had reassured the diplomats that police were under strict instructions to
abide by the law. "The campaign does not mean we will condone excessive use
of force or weapons by the authorities," he said.

Admitting that police have made some mistakes in waging the anti-drug war,
Thaksin has guaranteed that all killings will be investigated. He also
announced he would establish two committees to monitor the police and
protect informants and witnesses.

But he also has evinced continuing resentment of foreign criticism. He was
quoted last month by the Nation newspaper in Bangkok as saying Thailand
should "do away with the thinking of foreigners" about human rights.

Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha, speaking to reporters on the eve
of the crackdown, set the tone for police operations against suspected drug
traffickers. "They will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace.
Who cares? They are destroying our country," he said.

Based on public opinion polls, most Thais agree. A survey conducted in the
third week of February by the Suan Dusit Institute showed that more than 90
percent of respondents backed Thaksin's campaign. It remains unclear,
however, whether this resounding support will weather continuing
disclosures about excessive violence.

Thai media widely reported the death last month of a 9-year-old boy who was
shot as police tried to arrest his parents, suspected drug dealers. He was
gunned down in the back seat of a car driven by his mother as she fled the
police. Though authorities initially blamed the shooting on unknown
assailants, three police officers have been arrested in connection with the
boy's death.

Other victims include a pregnant woman, a 1-year-old boy killed in a
shooting that injured his mother, and a 75-year-old grandmother suspected
of peddling methamphetamines, according to press reports. The government
has not named the assailants in these cases.