Thaksin the callous

摘要

In early October Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, sacked his defence minister because the government was not doing well in its effort to quell violence among the mainly Muslim population of the country's south. Barely three weeks later, it is doing horribly worse, thanks to the killing of 84 Muslims by the army, most of them in army custody. Muslim leaders in the area predict a bloody backlash. A Thai human-rights lawyer suggests that the region may be reaching "the point of no return".