Police have yet to seek Interpol assistance for the arrest of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra because they have not received an official request from the Department of Special Investigation, Police Maj-General Terdsak Rujirawong, commander of the Royal Thai Police foreign affairs division, said yesterday.
However, DSI director-general Tharit Pengdit yesterday insisted that the request had been sent to the police last week. "I don't know why the police said they didn't get it," he said.
Tharit also said the police should not pass to the DSI the job of translating Thaksin's arrest warrant into English. Terdsak earlier yesterday said that the DSI should also have done the translation before forwarding it to the police.
In a related development, Lt-General Nattapit Sanitwong na Ayudhya, commander of the Royal Thai Police's personnel division, said the Police Commission has set up a subcommittee to determine whether Thaksin should be stripped of his police rank of lieutenant colonel for being sentenced by a court to imprisonment.
Nattapit said that his division was empowered to strip the rank of police officers who were still active, not those like Thaksin who had left the force. Nattapit said he referred the matter to the Police Commission.
In another development involving the ex-leader, Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said yesterday that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had revived the probe into the alleged killings of 1,200 people during the Thaksin Shinawatra government's "war on drugs".
Pirapan said he also planned to propose that former attorney-general Khamphi Kaewcharoen head the independent committee investigating these cases.
They would pick up work left over from the previous committee, set by the Surayud Chulanont administration and chaired by former attorney-general Kanit na Nakorn.
Out of some 2,500 people slain in drug-suppression operations, about 1,200 were said to have been killed by fellow drug dealers for fear they would turn into informants. However, human rights activists suspected that many of the deaths were summary executions of people suspected by the police of dealing in drugs, who were viewed as public enemies under the Thaksin government's war on drugs.
He said the investigation wouldn't take a long time as the previous committee had done considerable work already. Affirming that the PM would consider a deadline for the work, Pirapan said he would be able to propose a list of committee members to the premier next week.
As the committee's chairman should be a neutral legal expert, Pirapan aimed to approach Khamphi to replace Kanit, who was to head an inquiry into violence during rallies by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.
Pirapan also emphasised the government wished to continue the investigations by the old government in order to establish the facts. He said they didn't have any hidden political purposes or intentions for taking legal action against anyone. It was for everyone, including himself, to see where the investigation's result would lead and further actions would be taken accordingly, he added.