An editor at an English-language newspaper in Thailand said Tuesday he has been sidelined for refusing to tone down coverage critical of the country's military government.
Umesh Pandey, sacked editor-in-chief of Bangkok Post newspaper poses for a photo outside office building in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
Umesh Pandey said Tuesday that he lost his post as editor-in-chief of the Bangkok Post after a meeting with company executives where he was told that government officials had been pressuring them.
Pandey said he started working at the newspaper, one of two main English-language dailies in Bangkok, in 2006 and became editor-in-chief in 2016.
Umesh Pandey, sacked editor-in-chief of Bangkok Post newspaper poses for a photo in his former office in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
"I gave my staff a free hand, saying 'do as much as you can and I will protect you and I've been protecting them,'" Pandey said.
Pandey said he was still employed by the newspaper but has no active role.
Representatives of the Bangkok Post had no immediate comment.
Thai junta chief and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters on Tuesday that did not know Pandey. Media organizations are responsible for looking after themselves, he said.
Umesh Pandey, sacked editor-in-chief of Bangkok Post newspaper poses for a photo in front of the pictures of former editors of Bangkok Post newspaper in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
Since seizing power in 2014, the government has postponed elections and amended laws to try to ensure it keeps power. It also has sought to stifle dissent and exert more control over mass media. In 2017, it proposed legislation that would have required journalists to be licensed that was staunchly opposed by Thai media organizations.
One editorial series Pandy produced was a "poll countdown" spotlighting skepticism over the junta's promises to hold elections and abide by their results.
Separately this month, the managing editor of a television broadcaster was fired and another television station was ordered to suspend broadcasting for 30 days, the second time this year it had been pulled off the air.
BANGKOK (AP) — About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted at a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas.
Fighters from the Karen ethnic minority last week captured the last of the Myanmar army’s outposts in and around Myawaddy, which is connected to Thailand by two bridges across the Moei River.
The latest clashes were triggered in the morning when the Karen guerillas launched an attack against Myanmar troops who were hiding near the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, a major crossing point for trade with Thailand, said police chief Pittayakorn Phetcharat in Thailand's Mae Sot district. He estimated about 1,300 people fled into Thailand.
Thai officials reported people had started crossing since Friday following clashes in several areas of Myawaddy.
The fall of Myawaddy is a major setback for the military that seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. Myanmar’s once-mighty armed forces have suffered a series of unprecedented defeats since last October, losing swathes of territory including border posts to both ethnic fighters, who have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, and pro-democracy guerrilla units that took up arms after the military takeover.
The clashes, involving drone attacks from the Karen forces and airstrikes by the Myanmar military, had subsided by noon Saturday compared to the morning, but Mae Sot police chief Pittayakorn Phetcharat said he could still hear sporadic gunshots. He said Thai authorities would move people fleeing into a safer area.
Footage from the Thai border showed Thai soldiers maintaining guard near the bridge with sounds of explosions and gunshots in the background. People with children waded across the river with their belongings and were received by Thai officials on the river bank. Several are seen taking shelter in buildings along the river bank on the Myanmar side.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin wrote on the social media platform X on Saturday that he was closely monitoring the situation at the border.
“I do not desire to see any such clashes have any impact on the territorial integrity of Thailand and we are ready to protect our borders and the safety of our people. At the same time, we are also ready to provide humanitarian assistance if necessary,” he wrote.
In March, Thailand delivered its first batch of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar for about 20,000 displaced people.
Nikorndej Balangura, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Friday that Thailand is currently working to expand its aid initiative.
People cross the Moei river as they flee Myawaddy township in Myanmar to Thailand's Mae Sot town in Thailand's Tak province, Saturday, April 20, 2024. About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted near a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas. (AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)
A Thai military armored vehicle takes a position with sounds of explosions and gunshots along the Moei river, under the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province Saturday, April 20, 2024. About 1,300 people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand, officials said Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted near a border town that has recently been captured by ethnic guerillas. (AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)
People cross the Moei river as they flee Myawaddy township in Myanmar to Thailand's Mae Sot town in Thailand's Tak province, Saturday, April 20, 2024. More than a thousand people have fled from eastern Myanmar into Thailand on Saturday as fresh fighting erupted near the border of the town that has recently been captured by guerillas from the Karen ethnic minority, officials said.(AP Photo/Warangkana Wanichachewa)
