Posted on 11/07/2004 8:00:22 AM PST by knighthawk
TAK BAI, Thailand (Reuters) - Buddhists have expressed fear and frustration to Thailand's prime minister during a visit to the country's Muslim-majority south where nearly two dozen people have died in reprisal attacks in a fortnight.
More than 1,000 people gathered at a temple where Thaksin Shinawatra was taking part in an annual religious rite in Tak Bai district in Narathiwat province.
Some in the crowd implored Thaksin to help end the violence in the region and calm tensions after nearly 80 Muslims died in army custody last month, triggering Muslim threats of attacks in the capital Bangkok.
"We are being treated like second-class citizens here," a Buddhist woman in her thirties shouted at Thaksin during the visit to the temple on Sunday, just a few metres (yards) from the site where security forces beat seven protesters to death last month.
"We have been given false hopes by the government. I am urging you Mister Prime Minister to take drastic and decisive actions against those who have been behind the violence," the woman said.
At least 22 people, almost all of them Buddhists, have been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in drive-by attacks since 84 Muslim protesters were killed on Oct 25. In some incidents, the assailants have left leaflets citing revenge for the deaths.
More than 450 people have been killed in shootings or bomb attacks since the latest unrest began in January when militants raided an army camp, killing four people and seizing hundreds of semi-automatic rifles.
Most of Thailand's six million Muslims live in the south and many feel alienated by the Buddhist administration in Bangkok and by Thaksin's confusing approach to handling the crisis, switching from tough talk one week to soothing words promising aid the next.
LATEST VIOLENCE
In the latest violence, two Buddhist residents were shot dead hours before Thaksin arrived for the visit in which he also met security forces on the escalating violence.
Early on Sunday, a 63-year-old store owner in Narathiwat's Sukirin district was shot six times in the chest, arm and hip by a gunman posing as a customer, police said. The killer fled on a motorcycle. The victim died on the way to hospital.
Late on Saturday, unidentified men sprayed a Chinese Buddhist shrine in nearby Yala province. A Buddhist man, in his sixties, was hit by two bullets and died at the scene, police said.
Anticipating more violence, Thaksin said in his weekly radio address on Saturday that he would urge security authorities to work more decisively in their operations to restore peace to the region.
Thaksin also said he would launch a major crackdown on illegal assault rifles, many of which were used in deadly attacks on security forces and civilians.
He said on Sunday those troublemakers were not from the majority of Muslims in the region, but the government lacked help from local Muslims to find the culprits.
"We are revising our strategies," he told reporters.
"I believe we can handle them. I won't allow such incidents to last any longer," he said at the temple surrounded by 200 troops and police with rifles using metal detectors and mirrors to check beneath vehicles. He gave no other details.
Thaksin has cancelled his attendance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile this month and appointed Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to lead a Thai delegation, his spokesman said on Sunday.
Ping
Only the USA is leading the way in fighting these vermin. The world should be kissing our tookis.
Ping and a bump. . .
Religion of Peace struggling for Palestinian rights in Thailand's Narathiwat province. </sarcasm>
bump
I guess the targets of Jihad are not just crusaders, Jews, and polytheists.
I seem to remember somebody saying "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists."
Hmm, Southern Thailand borders Cambodia. Makes me wonder about what went on during the Pol Pot regime.
Southern Thailand is not even close to Cambodia. Malaysia is on the southern border of Thailand.
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