As the death toll mounts in Thailand's war o­n drugs, the country is being forced to face up to the culture of impunity that has long been enjoyed by those with power, be they the police, the military or other authorities.

It is a reality that even the critics of the government's assault o­n the drug trade cannot ignore, since they find familiar patterns in the stories that have grabbed the headlines after the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched its anti-drug campaign o­n Feb 1.

What is different this time though is the number of people being killed in the many mafia-style shootings. In the first five weeks of the crackdown, nearly 1,500 people have been killed across the country, with the provinces in the north and north-east among the worst hit.

By contrast, according to records, the average murder toll per month is about 400. In 2001, for instance, there were close to 300 murders recorded every month.

The government's crackdown o­n drugs - from February to April - comes in the wake of reports that Thailand is the country with the highest addiction to methamphetamines in the world. Some 5.9 percent of Thais 15 years and older are hooked o­n the pills that are produced in the millions in neighbouring Burma.

Police torture

''The culture of impunity is very strong in Thai society,'' says Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of Forum Asia, a Bangkok-based regional human rights watchdog. ''We know of the extrajudicial killings that take place in the north-east.''

According to Somchai, whose organisation has been among those raising the alarm over the high death toll in the anti-drug crackdown, it is common to hear of ''gangs going around in masks killing people'' with links to drugs or those who steal cars.

''These groups of men are never caught,'' he adds. ''The public believe they have links with the authorities.''

The police are involved in these cases, he says, adding that it reflects a pattern of them having no faith in the judicial system. ''In most cases, we believe that the police kill (drug trade) suspects if they have no evidence that can be proved in courts.''

The global human rights lobby Amnesty International has also pointed to the police for regularly resorting to torture to extract confessions from suspects.

''There is a widespread use of torture in the country,'' says Srirak Plipat, director of Amnesty International's Thailand office. ''The public are aware that the police use torture.''

In its June 2002 report 'Thailand - Widespread abuses in the administration of justice', Amnesty also identified military and prison guards, in addition to the police, in connection to ''the practice of torture, and the existence of conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment''.

There are several ''weaknesses in the Thai criminal justice system'' that contributed to the persistence of torture, the report declared. ''The police, prison guards and the army all appear to enjoy a degree of impunity in regard to their treatment of people in custody.''

Procedure probed

Yet Thailand has many laws to protect human rights and to uphold the system of justice. Chapter 3 of the country's 1997 constitution has a section that affirms the presumption of innocence of a suspect in a criminal case. Laws here also recognise the principle of due process.

However, the stark contradiction between the law and the reality hardly surprises David Streckfuss, a Thailand-based US academic who has written o­n this Southeast Asian country's human rights history.

''On paper, Thailand seems to have a judicial system that is in order. But there is always some other operating mechanism going o­n,'' he says. ''This permits impunity to happen.''

Even government officials concede that there has been a long prevailing climate of impunity. ''Impunity has been around and the law has not been enforced,'' says Suranand Vejjajiva, spokesperson for Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai) party. ''We are not happy about it.''

The government is heeding calls to investigate the links the police have with the drug trade, adds Suranand, also a Thai Rak Thai parliamentarian. ''We have appointed committees to investigate the police procedure since (the drug crackdown) began.''

Rights activists, however, question the sincerity of this move. They say Bangkok's latest policy o­n drugs has encouraged the police to take the level of impunity they enjoy to new heights.

''The government gave the green light by placing targets it wants to achieve by the end of the three-month campaign,'' says Somchai. ''The killings are a way to force suspects to give information. The killings are part of the campaign.''

Evidence planted

Critics point to the ''blacklists'', containing supposed suspects in the drug trade, that are held and used by the authorities.

According to Forum Asia, the government has ordered law enforcement officials to ''remove 25 percent'' of the suspects from provincial blacklists by the end of February.

In doing so, the Thai government has ''in effect forced the police and local officials to sidestep judicial procedure and due process of law. Evidence suggests that the police have planted evidence in order to carry out arrests and killings of alleged suspects,'' Forum Asia states in its assessment of the campaign.

The police see it differently, arguing that o­nly about 30 deaths can be linked to police fire - and that too in situations of self-defence - while the rest of the killers were cases of drug suspects shooting each other.

This fails to convince Amnesty's Srirak. ''We do not see much commitment by the authorities to investigate the killings the police say were the work of the drug suspects,'' he says. ''There is evidence that drugs are planted at the crime scene and bullets removed.'' - IPS