The Hindu : Thailand ready for extradition treaty

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 01, 2003

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Thailand ready for extradition treaty

By P. S. Suryanarayana

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, with the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok on Friday. — PTI

BANGKOK Jan. 31. India and Thailand today struck a broad political consensus on the possibility of addressing their security concerns in a cooperative fashion and also agreed to place their potential partnership on a forward trajectory. No specific agreement was signed, but it was decided to convene a Joint Working Group on Security as early as possible.

The scope for movement towards a fast track in bilateral interaction was explored during the talks the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, L.K. Advani, held with the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

It was decided to expand security cooperation in four areas — extradition, mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, joint work on security issues with or without an international strategic content and the drive against narcotics. Counter-terrorism, too, was identified as an integral aspect of cooperation in these four spheres.

However, there was no serious discussion on micro-level concerns such as those relating to the attempts of Indian underworld dons and others to use Thailand as a terrorist transit point.

The Thai leaders signalled their sense of foreign policy priorities by holding talks with Mr. Advani amid Bangkok's current efforts to manage a threatening crisis in its relations with neighbouring Cambodia.

Mr. Advani later told The Hindu that Mr. Shinawatra said he had no objection to giving a legal shape to the possibilities of security-related bilateral cooperation. The other Thai leaders Mr. Advani met were the Deputy Prime Minister, Wissanu Krea-Ngam, the Justice Minister, Purachai Piumsombun, and the Interior Minister, Wan Muhammad Noor Matha.

Briefing journalists on the substance of the Thai-India dialogue, the Union Home Secretary, N. Gopalaswami, and the Deputy Prime Minister's Officer on Special Duty, Ajay Prasad, and India's Ambassador to Thailand, Leela K. Ponappa, outlined a picture of progress at a pace that the two countries were comfortable with in addressing their security concerns.

On the moves towards a bilateral extradition treaty, Thailand reaffirmed its will to sign the proposed deal but clarified that this could be done only after the Thaksin administration could successfully pilot an updated extradition law in the country's Parliament. The Thai leaders assured Mr. Advani of their intention to hold further talks with India on the drafts that had been exchanged so far on the details of a proposed mutual legal assistance pact to deal with criminals.

On the operationalisation of the Joint Working Group on Security, which had been agreed upon some time ago, the two sides decided to set the process in motion. Thailand identified the Secretary General of its National Security Agency as the interlocutor. The Thai leaders emphasised their perception that international terrorism should not be identified with any particular religion or political faith in the context of the Bali tragedy in the South East Asian region.

The challenges of drug trafficking and piracy as also the terror-related money laundering were discussed. The other areas of bilateral exchanges covered economic cooperation with particular reference to the prospects of a free trade regime.

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