PM vows to act on rights issues

The group, led by human-rights lawyer Somchai Hom-laor, and Gothom Arya, director of the Peace Studies Institute at Mahidol University, spent two hours with the premier. They urged the government to exercise utmost restraint in dealing with the separatist problem in the three southern-most provinces, saying a heavy-handed approach would only lead to human rights violations.

Somchai told the media after the meeting that Abhisit had shown special interest in the Amnesty International Report on torture in Thailand and had told the group he would curb the use of special laws in the deep South.

Various issues of human rights violations over the past five years were brought to the attention of the PM, including the war on drugs during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, which led to some 2,500 deaths.

The issue of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit was also discussed along with the alleged illtreatment by the Navy of boat refugees from Burma, who were reportedly bundled up and sent back into the sea without food and water.

The PM said he would follow up on the matter, said Somchai.

The group later expressed support for the Abhisit government to work with "patience" to prevent more human rights violations in the future.

Regarding the October 7 bloody clashes between police and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators, Somchai said the PM told them the matter was sensitive and officials were looking into the matter in detail.

Somchai was asked by a reporter about the airports closure by the PAD. He said the group did not really discuss the matter in detail with the PM.