Mass Graves Found In The South

[frodo]

Abhisit calls on Govt to explain alleged mass graves

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday called on the government to explain alleged mass graves in the deep South which over 500 bodies were reportedly found.

Caretaker senator Kraisak Chonhavan made the allegations on Saturday, saying the graves had been found in southern border provinces by Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunan, acting director of the Forensic Science Institute.

Abhisit said he had learnt that the bodies appeared to have die in late 2004.

Abhisit said the government must clear the doubt over the issue as it would affect the on-going violence in the deep South.

The Nation

What a sad thing to be discovered. There has been a lot of bloodshed in the south, mainly since a certain party took control of the helm. The recent lychings of two school teachers was horrid enough and the media has made such a blown up case over this. I can only wonder how much attention this will get.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...newsid=30005106

[stumonster]

it does not say in the article where they are or how they were killed ? I take it they are not tusnami deaths.

[GuestHouse]

It doesn't say they are Tsunami Deaths either.

[Thaising]

Another unwritten chapter been discovered. Tsunami victims impossible.

Edited May 28, 2006 by Thaising

[slimdog]

Bit more information:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...newsid=30005107

[Thaising]

Bit more information:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...newsid=30005107

Therefore, this government are blaming on the southern insurgency and pushing away all responsibilities.

[ilyushin]

"What ya talkin bout?" was the latest response from government.

Very low indeed.

[GuestHouse]

Some 300 unmarked graves found two months ago

That these graves where found 2 months ago and we are only now getting to hear about it suggests that there has been some kind of response from the government.

And I agree, very low.

[ilyushin]

Genocide type of rap.

So many questions and no answers.

Edited May 28, 2006 by ilyushin

[Donz]

late 2004? probaly tsunami deaths, they first reported 10000 deaths but there were rumors it was much more. They probaly hid them and they have been sprung

[ilyushin]

late 2004? probaly tsunami deaths, they first reported 10000 deaths but there were rumors it was much more. They probaly hid them and they have been sprung

Don't think so.

But Pornthip said the finding has raised new concerns about human rights abuses in the region where 1,200 people have died in two years of unrest.

80 percent of them were killed???

[frodo]

Bit more information:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...newsid=30005107

Therefore, this government are blaming on the southern insurgency and pushing away all responsibilities.

No surprise with that at all. Given the war on drugs, "It was the dealers who killed everyone!' Tak Bai Massacre, "It was an honest mistake. Really, we didn't know when people are hog-tied and piled atop one another, they will suffocate in the brutal heat." The disappearance of a Thai human rights lawyer, Somchai Neelaphaijit. "No worry, he and his wife had an arguement is all."

How much lower will this go. Tsunami? I don't think that is a factor at all. I am not aware that Yala and Narathiwat were hot spots for the tsunami.

[Ulysses G.]

If they are wrong about the dates, I would guess that these bodies were hidden after the May 1992 unrest in Bangkok. Lots of eye witnesses said many more people were killed during that incident than the Government ever admitted.

Where are THOSE bodies?

[GuestHouse]

The first question is still, why does it take 2 months of this to reach the Press?

[britmaveric]

War on drugs me thinks!!!!!

[penzman]

Let's hope that this time around she can carry her investigation without any inteference from the clowns who were trying to take over (brass only wanting more brass to shine in the spotlight) when time came to identify the tsunami victims. It may be the reason why the media has only been made aware of this finding just now.

[Tarragona]

War on drugs me thinks!!!!!

I doubt that - I don't think there were reports of mass disappearances.

If they are victims of the southern unrest then surely it can't be a single massacre. Reports certainly would have been circulating.

If it was a single massacre, then 1992 is a very interesting theory as many people are still unaccounted for.

If the dates are right then Tsunami victims can't be discounted, though in the Deep South is possibly unlikely.

They should go through every one of the bodies looking to discover their identities. It seems that the government isn't saying "What ya talkin bout?" but more like "Oh, it's just some migrant workers, don't worry about?" So they're saying they know about it and know who the victims are. Maybe they really were migrant workers but in that case WTFIGO?

The first question is still, why does it take 2 months of this to reach the Press?

Not really. That would be the case in many countries suppposedly far ahead of Thailand on freedom of information and the like

[techie]

Something is definately not right here....

80% killed?

Governement not agreed to putting up funds to identify bodies?

The fact that the news took this long to come out is another big big issue, most other countries would of reported this in hours, probably less, there are families that need to be informed, 300 families are missing people and if some authority has got any reason to block information then i fell very sad when considering Thai policies...

Im not sure where the migrant worker assumption has come from if there has been no official identification process set up...

If no real evidence or explanation comes out as to how 300 bodies ended up in a grave then it just shows what kind of country Thailand is, and if it pans out that authorities have or are actively trying to conceal information then it is very sad......and worrying..

[Plus]

It was in the news about two months ago. They were reported as migrant workers.

[Plus]

Pornthip to investigate 300 bodies

Published on Mar 24, 2006

No police records for corpses in city burial site; 'many may be killings'

Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, director of the Justice Ministry's Forensic Science Institute, said yesterday she would investigate a burial site in the southern province of Pattani where about 300 corpses have been discovered, the vast majority of which do not appear to have died from natural causes.

Pornthip said she was alarmed that there were no police records to account for the bodies in Pattani's Muang district.

She told The Nation yesterday that it was standard operating procedure for the police to document all deaths.

The bodies were not dumped in a mass grave but were placed individually in the ground without coffins.

Pornthip did not specify the exact location where the 300 corpses were found, but local rescue workers from the Por Tek Tung Foundation said they believed she was referring to a section of the Talubok Cemetery where unclaimed bodies from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are buried.

The officer, who asked not to be named, said most of the bodies were foreign fishermen working on Thai-owned trawlers in Pattani.

He said about 300 bodies had been delivered to this section of Talubok over the past year and added that most of the corpses were found on the bank of the Pattani River where the trawlers are docked.

Most of the fishermen in Pattani, as well as other fishing ports in Thailand, are foreign workers from neighbouring Burma and Cambodia.

Locals said the men have a tendency to get drunk and fight, especially after a long stint out in the ocean.

Pornthip said it would be another month before her team could conduct any autopsies at the site.

[boppia]

So many possibility with the way things work out here. You can't trust anyone. I wonder when people will really care. The killings in the south have been going on forever I'd guess. Enemies of the state probably just 'disappeared.' They should search every province in Thailand for the lost souls of the past.

Why chase Osama when there are killers all over the place? What a world we live in!

[Johpa]

.....The officer, who asked not to be named, said most of the bodies were foreign fishermen working on Thai-owned trawlers in Pattani.

He said about 300 bodies had been delivered to this section of Talubok over the past year and added that most of the corpses were found on the bank of the Pattani River where the trawlers are docked.

Most of the fishermen in Pattani, as well as other fishing ports in Thailand, are foreign workers from neighbouring Burma and Cambodia.

Locals said the men have a tendency to get drunk and fight, especially after a long stint out in the ocean.

Pornthip said it would be another month before her team could conduct any autopsies at the site.

The idea that these were foreign nationals working in the fishing industry is very plausible. Drug abuse and associated very high HIV rates are part and parcel of the Thai fishing industry. Some other "old hands" may remember that when AIDS first broke out in Thailand in the 1980s, and the government was trying to blame the disease on foreign tourists, the truth was that the initial population vector was the fisherman population down south. These guys are the bottom rung of the social ladder and, like prostitution, over the past decade the ranks have been filled by neighboring nationals who found themselves in more direr straights than Thai nationals.

And the fact that these folks were buried in indiividual graves and not mass graves argues against any conspiracy theory, political or otherwise.

[ColPyat]

And the fact that these folks were buried in indiividual graves and not mass graves argues against any conspiracy theory, political or otherwise.

This is weird.

The article quoted the local Por Teck Tueng guys:

Pornthip did not specify the exact location where the 300 corpses were found, but local rescue workers from the Por Tek Tung Foundation said they believed she was referring to a section of the Talubok Cemetery where unclaimed bodies from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are buried.

If those are simply unclaimed corpses of foreign workers, then the Por Teck Tueng will know exactly what, how and why they are dead, and where they are buried. Every unclaimed corpse in their cementaries is properly registered.

There would be no need for the government to hide them, and no need for Dr. Pornthip to make those statements raising some uncomfortable question.

There might be also a media mix up going on.

One thing though - there has been a nasty rumor going around that since the beginning of the renewed problems down south there were far more people disappearing than officially registered.

[opothai]

mass suicide ???

[bulmercke]

Up to 500 bodies located in several locations.

These are most certainly not migrant workers. The police said this to deflect attention away from the real scandal that 500 Thai Muslims are lying in unmarked graves down there.

The police were hoping that these victims, if viewed as illegal migrants without I.D. and Thai nationality and rights, would deter those pesky and enquiring individuals and cause them to simply go away and forget about the whole matter.

But they haven't.....mainly because of Porntip and other conscientious pathologists.

Without doubt, these victims, in the main, are Muslim and were slain by the police and the security forces in the south.

Hence the cover-up!

Again.....the iron fist slowly emerges from the velvet glove!

>>>>>>>>>>>

And Plus wrote: "The officer, who asked not to be named, said most of the bodies were foreign fishermen working on Thai-owned trawlers in Pattani.

He said about 300 bodies had been delivered to this section of Talubok over the past year and added that most of the corpses were found on the bank of the Pattani River where the trawlers are docked.

Most of the fishermen in Pattani, as well as other fishing ports in Thailand, are foreign workers from neighbouring Burma and Cambodia.

Locals said the men have a tendency to get drunk and fight, especially after a long stint out in the ocean."

What a load of crap. If you believe this then you'll believe anything.

Plus, no disrespect, but the Thai police have a long record of lying to cover up embarrassing murders.

Edited May 29, 2006 by bulmercke

[oopapasan]

If they are wrong about the dates, I would guess that these bodies were hidden after the May 1992 unrest in Bangkok. Lots of eye witnesses said many more people were killed during that incident than the Government ever admitted.

Where are THOSE bodies?

You have to be a fool to mess with the Thai Gov.The Muslims (thick headed) are learning the hard way.Cheers to the Thai's.

[penzman]

If they are wrong about the dates, I would guess that these bodies were hidden after the May 1992 unrest in Bangkok. Lots of eye witnesses said many more people were killed during that incident than the Government ever admitted.

Where are THOSE bodies?

You have to be a fool to mess with the Thai Gov.The Muslims (thick headed) are learning the hard way.Cheers to the Thai's.

Does that include Buddhist Thais, Christian Thais AND Atheist Thais? Some seem to think there are Muslims only in the South Western part of Thailand...

Aaanyway, Dr. Pornthip (SHE really earned a doctorate) gave a lenghty interview this evening on ASTV concerning the bodies found recently. We will probably see more headlines and details in tomorrow's newspapers.

[frodo]

Let's hope that this time around she can carry her investigation without any inteference from the clowns who were trying to take over (brass only wanting more brass to shine in the spotlight) when time came to identify the tsunami victims. It may be the reason why the media has only been made aware of this finding just now.

Sorry to say, but a clown has emerged and has interfered into the matter. Probably at the string pulling by the top clown. It appears that those at the top have something to hide. Not wanting "Aliens" to assist is one thing, but to only give 30-days to complete this task (we've heard that before), the possibility that these are missing Thai's, though the gov't claims they are migrant workers, and for this gov't to turn down funding to help identify bodies reeks of something very amiss

Chidchai: We don't need alien experts

Trashes Porntip's plan for identifying corpses

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit yesterday threw cold water on a plan to have foreign forensic experts identify hundreds of mystery corpses in Pattani. He said Thailand had enough qualified forensic staff and a DNA data bank to do the work itself.

The foreign experts were invited by the acting director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science Porntip Rojanasunan. Pol Gen Chidchai, also justice minister, said the Justice Ministry on Tuesday appointed a fact-finding committee led by Pol Insp-Gen Seripisuth Temiyavej to find out the truth about the unidentified corpses. The panel was given 30 days to finish its task.

However, Khunying Porntip said the ministry had been slow in setting up the panel despite the fact she had submitted reports about the bodies a long time ago. She added that the 300 bodies in Pattani could be linked to missing person cases in the deep South.

Khunying Porntip said she was assigned by the Justice Ministry to track down and collect evidence of missing persons two years ago. The CIFS requested a budget of 16-17 million baht from the cabinet for the identification work last year only to have it turned down without any reason.

She insisted, however, that the institute must proceed with the corpse identification and that the Justice Ministry must set aside initial funds of two to three million baht. All the bodies will be moved from Pattani to Hat Yai in Songkhla province for examination. She said her team will attach great importance to religious principles in doing its work.

All the bodies will be entitled to a complete identification process regardless of their nationality or whether they were illegal immigrant workers, she said. She blamed the slow progress on the fact that the Prime Minister's Office did not have any regulations authorising the Justice Ministry to solicit cooperation from corpse identification agencies. She said the prime minister had received incomplete information which might have misled him into believing she was trying to meddle in police affairs.

Khunying Porntip also said the National Human Rights Commission plans to travel to Muslim countries such as Kuwait and Malaysia to study their corpse identification systems.

Source: Bangkok Post

Edited June 2, 2006 by frodo

[Rhys]

Sad Truly sad