‘Licence to kill’ in South needs to end

Allegations about the use of torture against suspected insurgents in the southern border provinces or the government’s callous attitude are nothing new.
Even when a suspect is found dead in his detention cell, the government consistently recites its “policy of prohibiting the use of torture as part of interrogation technique”.
In some cases where military officials have been implicated, like the beating to death of Imam Yapa Kaseng in March 2008, the country’s justice system has been extremely slow.
It was not until September 2015 that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) held an Army lieutenant responsible for the imam’s death. The NACC recommended that the officer in charge face criminal action.
This past week, three human rights organisations released a report accusing the government of systematically torturing detainees in the Malay-speaking South.
The Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF), the Duay Jai (Hearty Support) Group and Patani Human Rights Organisation (HAP), released a 49-page report in which they documented 54 cases of torture of detainees since 2004.
There could very well be more cases, as some people may not want to come forward to document what they had gone through.
Needless to say, the allegations in the report were damning. But instead of being civil about it, the government quickly dismissed them outright, as if such questionable tactics had no precedent whatsoever.
The culture of impunity among security officials in this restive region has long been a problem. It is aided by the use of martial law and the emergency decree, both of which are controversial, as they give the officials blanket impunity while operating in the South. Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun dubbed the decree a “licence to kill”.
The problem here is not just about what’s going on inside the interrogation room but outside as well when a suspect is permitted to leave and return home.
Accounts of those who had been summoned or “invited” for an interview by security officers in the region are depressing and shocking.
Many feared for their safety because the “invitation” confirmed that they are officially on somebody’s blacklist. If the person is spying for the security agencies, well, that’s another matter. Their concern would be the possibility of being killed by insurgents, who see murdering spies as fair game.
If the past 12 years tell us anything, it is that being on somebody’s blacklist could result in death. This has been the case with many former detainees getting shot to death by gunmen who sometimes use a silencer, and fire from a short distance.
And so when a typical news report describes a local resident getting shot at point-blank range while travelling on a motorbike, one has to wonder which side really pulled the trigger.
These damning allegations over the use of torture and extrajudicial or targeted killings have been made on several occasions by local and international human rights organisations. And the government has always been dismissive of these reports no matter how solid their findings may be.
We don’t have to look far to see how unprofessional Thai security officials can be. Therefore, such allegations should be taken seriously, not dismissed outright as if they were something conjured up with human rights activists.
Attacking the messengers with some cheap conspiracy theory only makes the Thai military look bad. It has been suggested that the report was aimed at attracting funding from abroad for more work.
Incidentally, the military is using the same argument that some casual observers are making about them – that the insurgency violence is kept alive on purpose by security agencies so their big budget continues to pour into the region.
The esteem of the government would jump in the eyes of the public if it could assure people that it would take these allegations seriously and look into it.
Of course, paying lip service is not enough because sooner or later the authorities will have to face the moment of truth. They need to know that the scars will not disappear from the hearts and minds of the local residents, no matter how much they wish it and no matter how long they wait for the case to disappear from public consciousness.