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Thai PM holds talks on migrant abuse allegations
AFP - 1 hour 33 minutes ago
BANGKOK (AFP) - - Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva met human rights officials Monday to discuss allegations that the Thai navy set hundreds of migrants adrift at sea, as his deputy expressed disbelief at the reports.
Photos, survivor accounts and reports from rights groups suggest up to 1,000 members of a Muslim minority from Myanmar washed up on Thai shores late last year, only to be towed out to sea and left with scant food and water.
Thailand's navy has denied the allegations and the foreign ministry is investigating, while Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Monday that the defence minister had also been tasked with handling the matter.
"I was primarily informed that the soldiers did not do that. There are several pictures... I believe we can find out the truth," he told reporters.
"I myself believe the officers did not do such a thing because Thai people have generosity and kindness."
Deputy government spokesman Buddhipongse Punnakanta said Abhisit met members of the National Human Rights Commission and other rights officials on Monday to discuss the matter.
"The prime minister told the commission not to worry about the Rohingya case," he told reporters. "He assigned all the government authorities involved to keep him up-to-date."
The Indian coast guard has so far rescued 446 of the boat people -- almost all of them members of the Rohingya ethnic group from western Myanmar near the Bangladesh border -- but officials say hundreds remain missing.
Indian officials said survivors gave accounts of being beaten by Thai authorities, before being towed back to sea and set adrift without engines or navigational equipment and with just a few bags of rice.
Another 200 foreigners, mostly Rohingya, were rescued off the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island earlier this month.
Somchai Homlaor, a prominent Thai human rights lawyer, said they had assurances from Abhisit during Monday's talks that the investigations would be thorough.
"We hope the government will be a role model for (Southeast Asian bloc) ASEAN to improve democracy and promote human rights, including respecting the human rights of neighbouring countries, especially migrants," he said.
Rights groups say the Rohingya are stateless and face persecution from Myanmar's military regime, forcing thousands into rickety boats each year to try to escape poverty and oppression and head to Muslim-majority Malaysia.
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