Page 257 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)
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Muslim students were even forced to behave according to Buddhist
teachings.
Over the years Thai rulers have perpetrated terrible massacres of
the Patani Muslims. In 1944, 125 Muslim families were burned alive in
the village of Belukar Samak alone. The assimilation policies imposed
by the Thais were seen and felt in all aspects of daily life. Many
minarets were torn down in Patani.
As part of this policy of assimilation, the demographic balance in
the Patani region was also changed as Buddhists were encouraged to
migrate there. The largest Buddhist statue in Thailand was erected in
Patani, and Muslims were forced to worship it. Those who refused
were killed or thrown into the Kota River.
During that same time, Patani freedom fighters' shelters were de-
stroyed by the Thais and thousands of innocent Patanis were tortured.
Prominent Muslim scholars died under suspicious circumstances in
health centers set up by the Thai administration, and unsolved killings
and disappearances became part of everyday life.
The struggle for independence of the Patani Muslims, who have experi-
enced such great suffering, began after World War II and continues to
this day.