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Thailand begins new war on drugs

Rium Kerdprayul displays a photo of her late grandson during an interview on Wednesday in Pathumthani Province, Thailand. Nine-year-old Chakraphan Srisa-ad was killed by police as they were shooting at his mother during a drug sting operation on Feb. 23, 2003. PHOTO: AP

Thailand has launched a war on drugs, reviving a controversial project of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose critics said his 2003 drug war cost many innocent lives.

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung defended the new campaign as he inaugurated it on Wednesday.

“There will not be any infringement of our people’s liberties and I have never said that I have a policy of extrajudicial killings,” Chalerm said. “But I said that drugs are a very complicated problem. If you don’t want to die, don’t walk down that road.”

About 2,300 people were killed during Thailand’s drug war. Human rights activists said there were many extrajudicial executions by police and other security forces.

The government said drug gangs carried out most of the killings to eliminate informers or rivals. Few if any people were tried or convicted over the slayings.

Thaksin’s drug war was popular in some rural areas and slums where a tide of methamphetamine pills from Myanmar led to soaring addiction and crime.

“Should we do nothing because we are afraid that someone is going to criticize us?” Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in February when he called for a new anti-drug campaign. “Why are you worried about the fate of drug traffickers?”

Samak’s government, which took office early this year, has tried to emulate several of Thaksin’s popular policies. Samak’s party is widely seen as a stand-in for Thaksin’s political machine.

Thaksin was ousted in a September 2006 military coup and a court barred him from holding office until 2012.

Vasant Panich, a former member of the independent state National Human Rights Commission, said his group knew of about 100 innocent victims of Thaksin’s drug war, based on complaints it received.

“We do agree that the drug sellers should be punished, but we think that the lives of innocents are more important,”he said on Wednesday.

One of the better-known cases in the earlier drug war was that of nine-year-old Chakraphan Srisa-ad, who died from bullet wounds after police allegedly fired at the car driven by his mother as she fled a drug sting operation in which his father was arrested.

Witnesses and circumstances suggested that police fired at the car. Authorities said a man from the same drug ring that the father alleged belonged to fired the deadly shots, while police shot into the air. No one was convicted over the incident.
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