Thailand fears Buddhist exodus from Muslim insurgency in south By Rungrawee C. Pinyorat ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:30 a.m. December 10, 2006 YALA, Thailand Thailand's Muslim insurgency has prompted hundreds of Buddhists to flee their homes in the restive south, creating refugee-like communities of Thais in their own country. So far, the migration is limited to a handful of villages, but it has alarmed Thai authorities who fear the daily violence of the three-year-old rebellion could provoke a larger Buddhist exodus and leave the three southern provinces exclusively Muslim. Buddhist monks have been beheaded, Buddhist teachers slain, and leaflets distributed around Buddhist villages warning that raising dogs and drinking alcohol are offensive to Muslims. Buddhist monks in one province have halted their alms-seeking rituals after coming under fire, and some Buddhist temples have become military barracks and heavily guarded fortresses. Suspicions are growing that some of the shadowy groups behind the violence see Buddhists as infidels and want them gone. A leaflet which the military says was distributed among Muslim villages called for a separate Islamic state and compared the south to Palestine and Afghanistan. Increasingly, insurgent violence is being used to scare away Buddhists and keep Muslims under control, said a recent statement by the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. High-level officials have paid morale-boosting visits to the displaced Buddhists and Queen Sirikit has funded construction of a dozen heavily guarded Buddhist safe havens in the three provinces for villagers fleeing Muslim-dominated villages. Authorities have pledged to guarantee the safety of Buddhists and are encouraging them to learn to use firearms, but have issued no detailed plan of action. Buddhists are 90 percent of Thailand's 65 million people but are a minority of 360,000 among 1.3 million Muslims in the provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Here, insurgencies have waxed and waned over various Muslim grievances since the once independent Malay sultanate was annexed by Thailand about a century ago. The latest round began in January 2004 and has claimed more than 1,800 lives. They include soldiers, civil servants and innocent bystanders. Unofficial statistics show that more than 900 of the dead were Muslims, most of them killed as alleged government collaborators. There are no official figures on how many have left their homes, though at least some of them are Muslims. The Buddhists feel targeted simply for being Buddhists. Buddhists don't feel safe anymore because they know insurgents want them out, said Srisompop Chitphiromsri, a professor at the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani who researches the insurgency. If people are being killed in their homes and in their communities they have one choice: That's to move away. The leaflet obtained from security forces was signed by the Islamic Warriors of Pattani State and said the south should be Muslim-only. This land must be liberated and ruled by Islamic Law. This land does not belong to Thailand, it said. This is a land of war that is no different from Palestine and Afghanistan ... Muslims and nonbelievers have to live separately. Many are too poor to move, and there have been no mass migrations, Srisompop said. The nation is closely watching Niwej Sankharam, a Buddhist temple in Yala city, now a safe house for some 230 Buddhists, with teachers being brought in to teach the children in monks' residence halls. The Buddhists fled here beginning Nov. 9 after attacks on their two remote mountainous villages, which are now empty. I don't want to go back to my village again. I have nothing left, said Thongchai Eamhiran, 36, whose wife and father-in-law were fatally shot and house burned down. He keeps a framed photograph of his slain wife by his bedside in the basement of a pagoda where dozens sleep side by side on the floor. I just want a place where I can live peacefully, he said. Some 40 Buddhist villagers from Narathiwat fled to a temple and returned home after a few days' stay. Another 20 have camped for two weeks at an abandoned police barracks. Because of the shadowy nature of the insurgency, it is impossible to get reaction from the perpetrators. But Muslim leaders have condemned the attacks on Buddhists in their sermons, said Waedueramae Maminggi, chairman of the Pattani Islamic Council. I regret what has happened, he said in a telephone interview. We want Buddhists to return home. We want to give them encouragement and want security forces to protect them. This is where they were born and they have the right to live here as much as Muslims do. Villagers at the temple are divided about what to do next. Some say they hope to return home if their safety can be assured. Others want the government to rehouse them outside the three provinces. But the government and monarchy fear that would set a precedent. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn recently visited villagers at the temple and encouraged them to return home. If you leave your houses and farms, you will need to start all over again, he said. Another visitor, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, promised them, We will try to ensure that you return home safely and stay there safely in the future. Surayud, installed after a Sept. 19 coup, has pledged to make peace in the south a priority and reverse the hard-line policies of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin favored a military approach and rejected peaceful negotiations. But the violence continues. On Oct. 22 five monks in Narathiwat province were wounded during their morning alms walk when a bomb killed two of their military escorts. Shortly afterward, all 300 monks living at the province's 78 temples decided to forgo the traditional morning ritual until their safety could be guaranteed. One of the injured, Phra Khru Sangkarak Somchaichotiwaro, said that monks were staying put for now, but noted that if they change their mind it could herald a wider evacuation. If temples are abandoned, he said, Buddhists will be demoralized and they will leave. Associated Press correspondent Sumeth Panpetch contributed to this report. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20061210-0930-thailand-buddhistflight.html _________________________________________________________________ Share your latest news with your friends with the Windows Live Spaces friends module. http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mk Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
