A ghost reappears with awkward questions

It was not exactly an outright accusation, but the request itself has sent a chill through the Thai government and the military. There is new discussion about the fate of 55 ethnic Karen men who crossed into Ratchaburi’s Suan Phung district in 2000 along with 300 villagers who were fleeing fighting between Thai and Burmese troops. Thai soldiers at the border separated the Karen men from the women and children. What happened to the 55 men has remained a mystery ever since.
This past week one of the Karen leaders, Johnny Htoo, returned from Sweden, where he has been living, to formally ask the Lawyers Council of Thailand to look into the case of the missing 55 men, who are now presumed dead.
In the late 1990s Johnny, together with his twin brother Luther, were leading a small band of armed Karen called God’s Army. Their followers believed the twins possessed mystical powers that helped the rebel fighters in battle against Burmese troops.
Next to God’s Army was another small band of armed guerrillas, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW), who were thrust into the international spotlight after they seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok in October 1999 and held several hostages while demanding that democracy be restored in their homeland. They quickly secured a deal with Thai authorities for a safe return to their base camp near that of God’s Army.
During the stand-off at the Burmese embassy, the Thai government served as mediator and it emerged from the incident quite well in terms of public relations. Then-Interior chief Sanan Krachornprasart commented that the armed students who stormed the embassy were not “terrorists” but “fighting for democracy”.
Some of the hostages yielded to “Stockholm syndrome”, as seen in their tearful goodbyes to the VBSW as the rebels boarded Thai military helicopters bound for their camp.
MR Sukhumbhand Paripatra, now Bangkok’s governor, led the Thai side in the negotiations, allowing the students to hold him in exchange for the release of the hostages. But while Sukhumbhand and his team congratulated themselves, the Thai First Army was busy coming up with ways to get back at the VBSW. It decided to shell the God’s Army camp to flush out the student fighters who had stormed the embassy. The mortars they sent into God’s Army territory injured hundreds of villagers. From Ratchaburi Hospital, the VBSW demanded that the Thais stop shelling the Karen positions and that medical personnel be permitted to cross the border to look after the citizens wounded by Thai and Burmese shells. Nothing of the sort happened, and the Karen who could make it across the border were left to look after their own people with whatever meagre resources they had.
During that fiasco about 300 Karen crossed into Thailand to seek shelter. The Thai authorities removed 55 of the men from the group. Luther Htoo is asking Thailand about their whereabouts. Thailand owes him an answer.