Thai govt. claims proof of Malaysian militant camps
Photos said to be evidence of insurgent training. Malaysia casts doubt on the claims.
Thailand's Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengprathum said on Tuesday that the Thai government has
photographs showing Muslim militants "being trained in jungle hideouts" in Malaysia. The Thai government believes these militants are responsible for fomenting violence in Thailand's troubled south.
"There are pictures which are relatively clear and can be accepted as evidence in court. If the Malaysian government wants to see them, we can oblige," Mr. Sutham said.
According to
Reuters, Sutham later said that Thai agents took the pictures earlier this year with the help of Malaysian intelligence.
"According to our knowledge, there are about 10 ringleaders in Kelantan state," he said, referring to the northern Malaysian state bordering southern Thailand.
Sutham also said the photos support Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's controversial weekend assertion that Thai militants are training in Malaysia.
Thaksin said Thai militants had trained in the jungles along the Thai-Malaysian border and been exposed to radical ideas in Indonesia, where militants of the Jemaah Islamiyah group, regarded as the regional arm of al Qaeda, have launched bomb attacks.
He did say the Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur governments had never supported the militants and were cooperating with Bangkok. But his comments angered Indonesia as well as Malaysia and both demanded Thailand provide evidence to support its claims.
Thaksin blamed the reporting of his comments for the diplomatic row with two Southeast Asian neighbors.
The Malaysian government, however,
cast doubt on the claims, reports
Agence France-Presse. "It is not easy to prove anything from photos. It is not easy to prove that the pictures were taken in Malaysia or anywhere in the world. It can also be in Thailand," said Home Affairs Minister Azmi Khalid.
According to
The Associated Press, "Thaksin has been widely criticized, at home and abroad, for a heavy handed approach to the insurgency in the south, where Muslims have long felt sidelined in a predominantly Buddhist nation."
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
angrily denied Thaksin's claim about Thai militants training in his country, reports
The Financial Times.
"Of course we don't know that this is happening," Mr. Abdullah told Bernama, Malaysia's national news agency. "Malaysia is not a base that can be used by any group who are planning to take action against another country. That is our clear stand." ...
"We question Thaksin's motive for making the statement," Mr Abdullah said. "If [he] has such information, he should convey this to Malaysia through diplomatic channels."
AP cites a professor at Songkhla Srinakarin University in southern Thailand as saying Tuesday that
government mismanagement and misjudgment are to blame for sparking the long-simmering Muslim separatist insurgency in the south.
The Malaysia Star reports that the Kelantan People's Action Council (MTRK), a non-governmental organization in the northern Malaysian province, submitted a
protest note to Thaksin over his allegations during the weekend.
[MTRK president Datuk Ibrahim Ali], who was accompanied by some 200 council members, said MTRK considered the statement a vicious lie to cover Thaksin's weakness following the huge number of deaths among southern Thai Muslims in Tak Bai on Oct 25.
The BBC reports that
Indonesia is also "annoyed."
"The Indonesian government has demanded an explanation, calling on Mr. Thaksin to substantiate or retract his accusations," reports the
BBC.
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