David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

BEIJING, China – The anonymous campaigners behind the so-called “Jasmine rallies”, a reference to the “Jasmine revolution” in Tunisia that sparked unrest across the Arab world, said their movement had support in dozens of cities. Chinese authorities deployed hundreds of policemen, blocked internet services and detained several dissidents by force to thwart ” Egypt-style’ ‘ protests in Beijing and Shanghai on Sunday.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman called the detention and beating of the foreign press “unacceptable and deeply disturbing.” He is urging the Chinese government to hold the perpetrators accountable and respect the rights of foreign journalists in the country.

Beijing’s Wang Fu Jing street, a busy shopping area was washed repeatedly with high-pressure water hoses to keep people away. The entry to the area was also restricted.

China’s leaders have watched developments in the Arab world nervously, as similar issues were among the root causes of the upheaval there.

Chinese authorities have reacted to these demonstrations by rounding up more than 100 known dissidents and rights advocates, activists said, and blocking references to the “jasmine” rallies on websites and search engines.

“We believe these deeds cannot stop the development of the Chinese Jasmine Revolution,” the organizers said.

On Sunday Premier Wen Jiabao promised action on top public concerns including soaring inflation, runaway economic growth and official corruption in an online chat with Internet users.

Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police had blanketed the city’s Wangfujing shopping street for the second week running, aggressively pushing away foreign reporters with cameras and briefly detaining several.

Bloomberg News said one of its correspondents was kicked and punched by at least five men in plainclothes, believed to be Chinese governmental security personnel. He required medical treatment.

“This type of harassment and intimidation is unacceptable and deeply disturbing,” U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman said in a statement.

The new statement was posted on Facebook, Twitter and other overseas social networking sites officially blocked in China, and came one day after security personnel turned out in force to thwart gatherings in Beijing and Shanghai.

Citizens have been urged to gather for subtle “strolling” demonstrations, but take no overt protest action, each Sunday afternoon at designated locations in cities across China, people protest to highlight public anger with the government.

The latest call urged “all social groups, intellectuals, unemployed college graduates, retired soldiers, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, laid off workers, victims of forced land seizures and building demolitions, and all people suffering from governmental injustice” to take part.

According to the feedback received by various new sources, on Feb. 27, 2011, this movement spread to over 100 cities, largely exceeding  initial expectations of 27 cities, it said, calling for people to “walk” for change again next Sunday.

“We send our salutations to all Chinese citizens supporting and participating in this noble movement!”

For more information, please see:

Vancouver Sun – Organizers plan new rallies despite tough weekend clampdown – 1 March 2011

The Times of India – China cracks whip, crushes ‘jasmine’ stir – 28 February 2011

Voice of America – US Ambassador Decries Chinese Abuse of Journalists – 28 February 2011

CTV News – Diplomats criticize harassment of journalists in China – 28 February 2011

Paramedics transporting the body of Shahbaz Bhatti, only Christian minister in Pakistan, who was shot dead on Thursday (Photo courtesy of the New York Times)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The only Christian in Pakistan’s government was assassinated on March 2 after pushing for change in laws that mandate death for people who insult Islam.

Shabaz Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, was the minority affairs minister and is the second top Pakistani official to be shot to death this year over his opposition to a blasphemy law. Earlier in January, the Punjab Province governer, Salman Taseer was also assassinated by his body guard for the same reason: calling for reforms to the blasphemy law.

The law was first introduced in the 1970s and amended later in 1986 under Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, the military leader, to include the death penalty for those who are accused of making derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad, the Korean or Islam.

Critics of the law say the law has been used against the minorities ever since. Christians, who make up roughly 5% of Pakistan’s 180 million population, occupy the lower ends of society with menial jobs. Along with Shiite Muslims and other minority Muslim sects, Christians are the most oppressed group and often frequent victims of suicide bombings, kidnappings and homicides.

Recently, there has been a case in which a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, 45, was charged with violating the blasphemy law and faced execution. Bhatti, being an outspoken critic against the law, defended the woman. Now, many are speculating that this may have triggered the extremists’ anger.

Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, called Bhatti’s assassination “a grave setback for the struggle for tolerance, pluralism and respect for human rights in Pakistan.”

Bhatti was on his way to work in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, when assailants sprayed at least 25 bullets at the Bhatti’s car. A letter that was found at the scene indicated that the killing was done by supporters of Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, according to the police.

After Bhatti’s death, Pakistani television aired a video in which a calm and convinced Bhatti purported to keep fighting for the rights of Christians and other minorities, even if it meant dying for the cause.

“When I’m leading this campaign for the abolishment of blasphemy law, and speaking for the oppressed, and the marginalized, persecuted Christians and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me,” Bhatti said. “These threats and these warnings cannot change my opinion and principles. I prefer to die for my principles and for the justice for my community rather than to compromise.”

For more information, please see:

The International Herald Tribune – Extremists Are Suspected in Killing of Pakistani Minister – 2 March 2011

AFT – Canadian leaders ‘outraged’ by Pakistan minister’s killing – 2 March 2011

The Los Angeles Times – Pakistan’s only Christian Cabinet member assassinated – 3 March 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

YALA, Thailand – Yala has been under emergency rule since 2005.  More than 4,400 people have died from what seems like daily attacks. Fighters in Thailand’s south have waged a violent campaign since 2004.

While the international media focuses on Red and Yellow Shirt clashes and a temple spat, a deadly rebellion still brews in Thailand’s south.

Insurgents have intensified their attacks in the lower South in the hope of attracting the intervention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, says army commander-in-chief Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Thailand is on the brink of political crisis as the separatist rebellion in the country’s south has largely escaped international attention. Its seventh anniversary passed quietly, with little mention.

Major shooting and bomb attacks, since the start of the year, are being seen as an attempt by separatists to intensify the violence in a bid to highlight Thailand’s southern insurgency.

The army chief said more surveillance cameras must be installed as they could help identify rebels perpetrating violence.

A call for more residents of the South to become the eyes and ears of the state as Gen Prayuth said tighter security measures would be implemented.

The army is concerned for the safety of people who might be harmed by insurgents for cooperating with authorities.

The Thai government extended emergency rule in the country’s south for an additional three months, despite rights groups being concerned about the powers the law gives the military.

The commander-in-chief said the army was handling the insurgency problem through a multi-dimensional approach using the justice system, military strategies and development projects.

Gen Prayuth said the army might have to go on the offensive and try harder to locate militants in hiding in the mountains and around towns.

“We will not fall for the [militants’] tricks,” the army chief said.

“We will do our best by invoking the law and by solving our own internal problem.”

The more progress officials make and the more support they gain from local people, the more militants will intensify their attacks.

Meanwhile, police have linked a key member of the militant Runda Kumpulan Kecil separatist movement to Monday’s motorcycle bomb attack in Yala in which 18 people were injured.

The man was identified as Aumran Ming, an RKK group leader who lives in Narathiwat’s Rangae district, said provincial police Chief Chaitat Inthanujit.

Mr. Aumran is wanted for involvement in many violent attacks against authorities and civilians since 2003.

A sad truth is that, February was just another month in southern Thailand.

Most of the past seven years, the authorities have decided to dismiss the attacks as random acts of violence carried out by either bandits or a handful of disgruntled Islamic militants.

Five years passed before the Thai police admitted they had a separatist movement on their hands, a well-structured organization consisting of five related groups operating across four provinces—Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat—where six million Muslims live.

This is about more than just some obscure provincial groupings, there has also been evidence of links with al-Qaeda and regional terrorist outfits like Jemaah Islamiyah.

‘What’s happening in Pattani isn’t an internal conflict, some (fighters) come from the neighboring country, some come from far away, many thousands of miles,’ he has said, while urging Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia to join Jemmah Islamiyahs jihad.

For more information, please see:

The Diplomat – Thailand’s Forgotten Conflict – 24 February 2011

Bangkok Post – Prayuth says rebels hope to draw in OIC – 24 February 2011

Al Jazeera – Car bomb hits southern Thailand – 13 February 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia – A day after the United Nations security council urged the two sides to exercise restraint, there have been further clashes on the disputed border with Cambodia and Thailand.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the current head of the Council, called on both sides “to display maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation”.

On Monday, Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Thailand’s Kasit Piromya appeared before the United Nations Security Council to set out their respective positions.

Sunai Pasuk, a representative for Human Rights Watch in Thailand, says the U.N. will provide a forum for debate over the clashes, and could help determine human rights violations.

“But the basis for conflict resolution is still within bilateral process,” noted Sunai. “A presentation at the U.N. Security Council will be an opportunity to both Thailand and Cambodia to further allegations of human rights violations to international laws as the use of cluster ammunitions can only be resolved with independent observation of the affected area.”

“Members of the Security Council urge the parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and to implement it fully,” she said.

Both countries have accused the other of using banned cluster bombs in the fighting.

The conflict had intensified around the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.

The temple is home to four days of clashes this month in which 11 people died.

Both sides have claimed the UN statement supports their position. Cambodia went into the meeting calling for a permanent ceasefire, and Thailand, which regards the dispute as a purely bilateral issue, welcomed the UN’s decision not to become more actively involved.

In 1962 the grounds of the temple itself were awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice, but it is the 4.6 sq km of nearby territory, a main access route, and remains in dispute.

Thailand has blamed the UN decision to list the temple as a World Heritage site in 2008 for inflaming the current tensions.

The armies of both governments remain on alert as thousands on both sides were forced to flee their homes.

In Thailand, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says the temple should be de-listed as a United Nations Scientific and Educations Organization World Heritage site.

Mr. Abhisit says doing so and scrapping a proposed Cambodian management plan would defuse the border conflict. However, Cambodia is expected to oppose the idea.

By the time the armies of Thailand and Cambodia end their battle for Preah Vihear, an 11th century temple on the border between the two countries, there may be nothing left to fight over, as many reports have it.

For weeks, there have been protesting in Bangkok, espousing hate speech against Cambodians and issuing a set of extremist demands that include a Thai boycott off the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and the use of military force to evict Cambodian villagers from the disputed area.

It isn’t clear yet whether the U.N. Security Council will take up the conflict, and if it does, how quickly it will proceed.

For more information, please see:

TIME – Thailand and Cambodia’s Battle for an Ancient Temple – 7 February 2011

Voice of America – Thailand, Cambodia Border Fight Moves to UN – 11 February 2011

Financial Times – Thailand accuses Cambodia of fresh attack – 15 February 2011

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Scores of people caused unrest in Yongchon, North Pyongan Province in North Korea by shouting, “We can’t live! Give us fire [electricity] and rice!”

The event occurred on February 14, two days before leader Kim Jong-il’s birthday, when people fashioned makeshift megaphones out of newspapers and shouted those words.

“At first, there were only one or two people, but as time went by more and more came out of their houses and joined in the shouting,” the source added.

The State Security Department investigated the incident but was unable to identify the people who initiated the commotion when they met with a wall of silence.

“When such an incident took place in the past, people used to report their neighbors to the security forces, but now they’re covering for each other,” the source said.

Such demonstrations are extremely rare in repressive North Korea where information is tightly controlled by the state and people have no access to outside world. But as the regime staggers under international sanctions and failure of currency reform, people are showing signs of discontent.

“Discontent erupted because the regime cut off electricity that had been supplied to them only a few hours a day, and they had hard time putting food on the table due to soaring rice prices,” said one refugee.

In this particular case, the already infrequent electricity supplies were said to be diverted to the capital Pyongyang to light up the night there to mark Kim’s birthday, the paper said.

For two decades, since the collapse of a public distribution system that supplied food rations, Kim Jong Il’s government has neglected to care for its people. In the early and mid-1990s, an estimated 2 million died in a famine.

Despite these signs of people’s anger, analysts, however, doubt the possibility of a popular revolt similar to those in North Africa and the Middle East.

“I don’t see anything in civil society that would lead to a kind of Egyptian phenomenon,” said Stephan Haggard, Professor at University of California San diego, at a Washington presentation last month.

For more information, please see:

The Chosunilbo – N.Korean Protesters Demand Food and Electricity – 23 February 2011

Radio Netherlands Worldwide – N. Koreans protest over power cuts: report – 23 February 2011

The Washington Post – Starving N. Korea begs for food, but U.S. has concerns about resuming aid – 22 February 2011