COUNTING THE COST OF GOING DRUG-FREE

40 Thais a day are being killed in a drug eradication drive. To critics it
is a step backwards, but authorities are unmoved.

A two-year-old girl is found sleeping in her mother's arms; the woman has
been shot dead and their home ransacked.

An eight-year-old boy wears a permanent frown; his parents were bringing
him back from a temple fair when his father was shot in the head. His
mother was shot in the back and took a bit longer to die.

Three policemen visit a schoolboy's home while he is out; terrified, his
parents go to the local police station to demand their son be taken off the
"black list". The police say his name is on no list; they are not reassured.

Welcome to the brave new world of Drug-Free Thailand.

This campaign, launched by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to wipe out
drug trafficking within three months, is not yet three weeks old. Already
596 people have been killed - just eight of them by police - according to
Interior Ministry figures released on Tuesday.

There are fears a major scandal is unrolling. "This smacks of a great wrong
being done," said Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the regional human
rights group Asia Forum.

It may not only be a travesty of justice, it could usher in a new era of
rule by gun and goon - a practice the country has so painfully tried to
bury - said a member of the human rights commission, Pradit Charoenthaithawee.

"This is supposed to be a democracy under the rule of law. There is no law
that covers the gunning down of people on the whim of the local
authorities. This is a step back into the dark ages," said Mr Pradit.

There will be no early let-up in the killing: provincial governors and
police chiefs have been told firmly this week that their jobs depend on
their "success" in joining the drug war. And in this war, success is
measured principally by body the count.

The police blame all but a handful of the deaths on shootouts between
traffickers trying to "cover up evidence and silence witnesses".

Such an explanation for so many deaths strikes many observers as unlikely,
even bizarre. The notion that panicking gangsters might spontaneously
decide to kill each other would suggest scenes of mayhem, nasty fights,
arguments - yet in every case where details are known, the killing has been
performed by a professional killer.

"This has become a land of fear. It is very ugly. Who is killing who?" said
Jaran Ditapichai, another human rights commissioner.

Most concerned observers think that "off duty" death squads have been
unleashed. Many say this is the only explanation for the high number of deaths.

Some army officers in a position to observe police activity say that since
rogue policemen have been heavily involved in the drug trade, elements in
the police force have a keen interest in silencing certain traffickers.

The prime minister and his colleagues brush off as so much "crying for the
devil" the fears that private scores may be being settled, that only
small-time traffickers tend to be killed and that the law says everyone
deserves a fair trial. Government ministers publicly demand that no
extrajudicial killings take place, but act as if, to quote one senior
member of the security forces, "pre-emptive killing" is an absolute
requirement.

The head of the forensic services institute, Pornthep Rojanasunan, has
complained that the police have made no requests for her team to examine
bodies for signs so-called gangland murders carry the hallmarks of
extrajudicial killing.

Thailand has a serious drug problem, and the public appears to approve of
the super-tough campaign. Critics say, however that state-controlled
television and radio are cowed and have not exposed the pain and
disadvantages of the killing wave.