BANGKOK, Jan 31 — After fighting for Thai citizenship over several years, a total of 351 displaced persons living in Tak province bordering Myanmar have filed charges against Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda and three others with the Central Administrative Court and demanded Thai citizenship.
Four persons acting as representatives for the 351 displaced residents plus a group of lawyers on Friday, submitted complaints to the Central Administrative Court, accused the Gen Anupong Anupong, Interior Ministry’s permanent secretary and the director-general of the Provincial Administration Department, and the Committee on Thai Nationality of not considering and certifying the status which has been deprived them from being Thai citizens.
They charged that this had also affected the status of the rest of the Thais with Myanmar nationality and currently living in Tak province which is the fundamental right under the 2007 Constitution and was being cited at the time when the court approved the case.
The 351 displaced persons requested that the Court granted them and the rest in Tak the Thai nationality.
Surapong Kongchantuk, chairman of a Lawyers Council of Thaiand (LCT) subcommittee on the stateless, migrant workers and the displaced, said the resolution adopted by the interior minister and three others was inaccurate and not in line with historical facts.
Their resolution has affected displaced persons living in three districts of Tak province and these people needed justice from the Central Administrative Court, Mr Surapong added. (MCOT online news)
