Thai Police To Deport 91 Rohingya To Myanmar

[webfact]

Thai police to deport 91 Rohingya to Myanmar

BANGKOK, January 24, 2011 (AFP) - Police in Thailand have arrested 91 Rohingya boat people after they landed on the country's southern coast and are planning to deport them to Myanmar, they said Monday.

The Muslim, Bengali-speaking Rohingya of Myanmar are described by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

The group, all men of different ages, were detained after coming to shore on Saturday evening with boat engine problems, according to Visit Tangpong, police chief in Trang province's Kantang district.

He said he thought the group were on their way from Myanmar to Malaysia.

"We are providing basic humanitarian assistance with food and water, but they were illegal immigrants. We have to follow our laws," he said.

Police Colonel Putthipong Musikul, of the immigration office in Songkhla province where the group are being held, said they would be sent back, probably within one or two days.

Mainly Buddhist Myanmar effectively denies citizenship and property rights to the Rohingya, leading to their abuse and exploitation and prompting many to flee the country, often to refugee camps in Bangladesh.

In the past the Thai navy has been accused of sending desperate asylum-seekers back to sea and casting them adrift, drawing fire from human rights activists.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-01-24

[webfact]

Thai officials return 91 Rohingya boat people to Myanmar

TRANG: -- Thai officials on Sunday deported 91 Rohingya boat people who reportedly fled Myanmar’s harsh military rulers and landed in Kantang district, sending them back to their homeland, a senior Thai official said.

Kantang district officer Visit Tungpong said the 91 Rohingya boat people landed on a beach in the district of the southern coastal province of Trang on Saturday and were arrested by Thai marine police on charges of illegally entering the country.

The 91 Rohingyas, the largest amount number of the ethnic Muslim minority ever observed landing in the southern province, were carried by truck and sent to immigration officials in the further South of Songkhla province near the Thai-Malaysian border, said Mr Visit.

They would be sent back by boat to Myanmar, he said.

“Although it’s against humanitarian grounds, the illegal entry of foreigners must come under the (Thai) legal framework. This is to prevent a similar problem from occurring again in future,” Mr Visit said.

The Thai authorities have been instructed to patrol islands in the province to prevent foreigners from entering Thailand illegally, he said. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-01-24

[Fookhaht]

Very different story coming out of New Dehli:

"NEW DELHI - Ninety-one Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh have landed on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands claiming they had been turned back into the sea by the Thai navy, a police officer said Friday. Police found the starving refugees as they swam half a mile into a village after their engine-less boat ran aground in the Andaman Sea last Saturday, said Superintendent S.B.S. Tyagi.

Twenty-eight of them were taken to hospital as they were found to be emaciated and very weak, Tyagi told The Associated Press.

He said the 91 refugees had set out from Bangladesh for Malaysia by way of Thailand on Jan. 2 to find jobs after paying money to traffickers.

They told Indian police that the Thai navy caught them on Jan. 13 and kept them in an isolated place for five days for illegally entering Thai waters.

Then naval officers towed them out to sea and left them adrift in the engine-less boat on Jan. 19 after giving them some rice, drinking water and cooking utensils, Tyagi quoted them as saying.

Their boat drifted for several days in the sea without any food and water before they arrived at the Indian territory around two weeks later, he said. None of them had travel documents.

On Friday, Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said it was unlikely that the Rohingya refugees were pushed out into the sea by the Thai Navy, but said the government would look into the matter.

From: Brandon Sun, Feb. 2, 2011

Despite the navy's usual and obligatory denial ("unlikely...refugees were pushed out to sea..."), the Thai navy's recent history leads us to believe it was VERY likely!

Edited February 12, 2011 by Fookhaht

[jayjay0]

Very different story coming out of New Dehli:

"NEW DELHI - Ninety-one Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh have landed on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands claiming they had been turned back into the sea by the Thai navy, a police officer said Friday. Police found the starving refugees as they swam half a mile into a village after their engine-less boat ran aground in the Andaman Sea last Saturday, said Superintendent S.B.S. Tyagi.

Twenty-eight of them were taken to hospital as they were found to be emaciated and very weak, Tyagi told The Associated Press.

He said the 91 refugees had set out from Bangladesh for Malaysia by way of Thailand on Jan. 2 to find jobs after paying money to traffickers.

They told Indian police that the Thai navy caught them on Jan. 13 and kept them in an isolated place for five days for illegally entering Thai waters.

Then naval officers towed them out to sea and left them adrift in the engine-less boat on Jan. 19 after giving them some rice, drinking water and cooking utensils, Tyagi quoted them as saying.

Their boat drifted for several days in the sea without any food and water before they arrived at the Indian territory around two weeks later, he said. None of them had travel documents.

On Friday, Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said it was unlikely that the Rohingya refugees were pushed out into the sea by the Thai Navy, but said the government would look into the matter.

From: Brandon Sun, Feb. 2, 2011

Despite the navy's usual and obligatory denial ("unlikely...refugees were pushed out to sea..."), the Thai navy's recent history leads us to believe it was VERY likely!

One source says they were from Bangladesh and another source says from Burma.

the accusations against the Thai Navy pretty much fall into line with the Thai's Navy previous record.

Seems to me the last time they did this Instead of a independent group looking into Abhist told them to look into it them selves.

Any one here what they found.

[Scott]

The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted groups of people in the world, yet there is so little attention to their plight.

I highly doubt that a group would blatantly lie about landing in Thailand and being put back out at sea--unless of course they get a daily paper out there and can figure out who to blame. Being on their way to Malaysia and ending up in India sounds like someone has deliberately intervened in their situation.

Thailand usually says they are going to deport them, however, Myanmar doesn't recognize them as citizens. It's difficult to know, without careful screening of the people, where they came from. The Rohingya's live in both Bangladesh and Myanmar. All repatriations should be supervised by UN officials.

A conspiracy of silence between Thailand and Myanmar exists on this situation.

[Rhalovely]

One more proof of the total impunity enjoyed by the Royal Thai Army in this country .

Simply disgusting

[NanLaew]

^ yeah, the Army are a rum lot.

But the Navy is decent. My neighbours boy was conscripted last year. He's having a blast.

[Scott]

For those interested in the plight of the Rohingya, this thread is running in the Phuket forum: