BANGKOK — The Royal Thai Navy has denied threatening to shoot at a boat of Rohingya refugees in Thai waters last week, a government spokesperson said.

A 23-year-old passenger on the rickety green boat told AP yesterday that Thai naval officers towed the ship out to sea after providing food and water, and then threatened to shoot if they returned.

After being rejected by several countries in the region, the overcrowded boat was rescued by Indonesian fishermen and brought to shore in Aceh yesterday.

"The government and the navy would like to reject this completely baseless news," said Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesperson of the Thai Prime Minister's Office. “It also made the Navy, who is dedicated in its works to help fellow humans and defend the maritime sovereignty of the nation, very sad." 

He told reporters that he has personally spoken to every Naval officer involved in the encounter, and that each one denied the allegation.

Maj.Gen. Sansern also reiterated that the ship’s passengers told officers they wanted to continue to a third country.

Thailand will continue its policy of providing humanitarian aid to boats bound for other nations, but treat any migrants who land Thai shores as illegal immigrants, he said.

"Even though we have been accused unfairly, which leads to a risk that the international community will misunderstand Thailand, the Thai government will not change its policy to treat these irregular migrants," Maj.Gen. Sansern said. 

Yesterday, after a week of playing “maritime ping-pong” with the boat people, Indonesia and Mayalsia decided to open their shores and provide temporary shelter for up to one year. Thailand declined to join the initiative.

The boat people are primarily Bangladeshis fleeing poverty, and Rohingya Muslims escaping ethno-religious persecution in Myanmar. Most are seeking to settle in Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia, though Thailand has traditionally been used as a transit country for human smugglers and traffickers. 

The surge of stranded migrants off shore – estimated to be as many as 8,000 – was triggered in part by Thailand's clampdown on smuggling operations in the south earlier this month. After sweeping the region, Thai police have found several mass graves and jungle camps used by traffickers to detain and abuse migrants until their relatives send hefty ransom sums. 

Thailand will hold an international summit to discuss the crisis on 29 May.

BANGKOK — Thailand has stopped short of promising refuge to migrants stranded in its waters, unlike Malaysia and Indonesia, whose governments agreed today to take in the boat people after days of pushing them back to sea.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister was conspicuously absent from a press conference that followed a meeting between representatives from the three countries in Putrajaya this morning, during which ministers from Malaysia and Indonesia said their governments would provide temporary shelter to the migrants if the international community could facilitate resettlement within a year.

Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, General Tanasak Patimapragorn, reportedly said he needed to consult domestic laws before Thailand could commit to the initiative.

Hours later, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign affairs released a statement about the meeting that did not mention any plans to house the migrants, or explain Gen. Tanasak’s absence from the press conference.

The statement’s only concrete promise was that Thailand will “will not push back migrants stranded in the Thai territorial water.”

Commenting on Twitter, Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson called Thailand’s lack of action an “appalling” and “shameful” abdication of leadership.

Gen. Tanasak’s absence from the press conference also perplexed many veteran journalists in the region.

“I can never remember seeing something like this in 20 years of reporting ASEAN,” BBC’s Jonathan Head wrote of a photo showing Gen. Tanasak's empty podium. “Appearance usually matters so much.”

The boat people are primarily Bangladeshis fleeing poverty, and Rohingya Muslims escaping ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar. Most are seeking to settle in Muslim-majority Malaysia or Indonesia, though Thailand has traditionally been used as a key transit country for human smugglers and traffickers. 

The surge of stranded migrants off shore – estimated to be as many as 8,000 – was triggered in part by Thailand's clampdown on smuggling operations in the south earlier this month. After sweeping the region, Thai police have found several mass graves and jungle camps used by traffickers to detain and abuse migrants until their relatives send hefty ransom sums. 

Over the past week, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia have taken turns towing the overcrowded boats of hungry migrants out of their territorial waters, attracting heavy criticism from the UN and other human rights groups.

The director of the International Organization for Migration commended "the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia, in particular" today for agreeing to shelter the migrants, but reiterated the urgent need to mount a search-and-rescue mission for the boats still adrift at sea.

“I applaud this humanitarian response by these ASEAN nations and urge an immediate response at sea to now rescue and bring to shore these suffering migrants, many of whom are women and children who have been in life threatening conditions without water or food for days," said IOM director William Swing.

Thai authorities have said the migrants are welcome to disembark on Thai shores, but will be prosecuted for illegal entry into the Kingdom. However, a 23-year-old Rohingya whose boat was rescued by Indonesian fishermen this morning told AP the Thai navy towed his ship out to sea after providing food and water, and then threatened to "shoot" if the migrants returned.

Thailand is holding a international summit to discuss the humanitarian crisis on 29 May.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has disputed a state agency's decision to pull a Redshirt-operated TV station off the air, calling the move an unjustified violation of freedom of expression.

Peace TV’s license was revoked last month by Thailand’s media regulatory board, the National Broadcasting Telecommunication Commission (NBTC).

NBTC officials said the channel had violated junta orders that forbid media from inciting violence or causing "divisions in the Kingdom." Redshirt leaders later filed a complaint to the NHRC and asked the committee to investigate the ruling.

NHRC director Niran Pitakwachara said today that the committee believes the shut-down order was delivered without due process or cause. 

"We have not found any content [on Peace TV] that incited unrest or divisions," Niran said. "The reason cited in the [NBTC’s] explanation does not match the station’s news. It is a judgement that violates the liberty and rights of expression of media agencies."

He added, "Furthermore, the NBTC never allowed the accused to explain their cases." 

Niran encouraged the Redshirts to include his committee’s verdict when they file a lawsuit against the NBTC, as Redshirt leader Nattawut Saikua has vowed to do.

Although the station's broadcast license was formally rescinded on 30 April, Peace TV staff have continued to film and upload segments on YouTube.

Both of Thailand’s Redshirt and Yellowshirt movements operate their own TV and radio channels featuring news programs and live broadcasts of their political rallies. Media agencies affiliated with the two groups played significant roles in the pro- and anti-government rallies last year that culminated in the May 2014 coup.

After the military takeover on 22 May 2014, the junta has banned all political activities and prohibited the media agencies from aggressively criticizing the regime. TV channels affiliated to both Redshirt and Yellowshirt movements were allowed to operate – as long as they agree not to instigate violence, divisions, or "confusion" among the public. 

Critics say the junta is particularly bent on curbing the influence of the largely anti-coup Redshirt movement, which has commanded the polls and elected majorities in congress in every national election for the past decade.