The army has shot down a call to negotiate with insurgents to end conflicts in the restive South. Army chief Anupong Paojinda said no talks would be held with separatist groups during his tenure, which ends in September next year."We won't negotiate with them. But we will take legal action against them," he told the Bangkok Post. "They have to be brought to trial for having murdered innocent people," said Gen Anupong, who accompanied Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on a trip to inspect government development projects in Pattani and Narathiwat last week.
Gen Anupong was reacting to calls by Puea Thai chairman Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to negotiate with separatist groups to end the violence. Gen Chavalit has also proposed an amnesty for militants in the three Muslim-dominated provinces.
The Internal Security Operations Command believes 8,000-10,000 insurgents are active in the deep South. The insurgents took shelter in more than 200 villages in the so-called red zone and used pondok schools as a base to carry out attacks against civilians and state officials, it said.
"The insurgents want to separate our land and set up an autonomous area," the army chief said. They carried out attacks to draw international attention to their "plight". But the army leader said that the southern violence was a domestic issue that could be solved by the government alone. No other countries, including fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, had offered themselves as brokers in talks between the government and the separatist groups.
Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia plans to tour the three southernmost provinces with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva early next month. The trip is intended as a show of Malaysian support for Thailand's efforts to tackle the violence. Gen Anupong said no Asean members would interfere in the southern issue.
There are 20,000 soldiers, 18,000 police and 40,000 defence volunteers providing security for two million people in the deep South. "We will not abandon people to live alone. Without us, how could they survive?" Gen Anupong said.
He had told border officials to keep a close watch on people with dual Thai-Malaysian nationality as he believed many were involved in attacks in the deep South. Security experts believe militants with dual nationality carry out attacks there, then flee to neighbouring Malaysia to avoid being caught.
The question of how to tackle assailants with dual Thai-Malaysian nationality will be tabled for talks between the two leaders when Mr Najib is visiting here, officials say.
Gen Anupong also criticised "the Pattani model" pushed by Gen Chavalit as a solution to the violence. Gen Chavalit has proposed a form of elected self-government for the region, similar to the way Bangkok is run. He says the government is deliberately misinterpreting his call as advocacy for an independent Pattani state, which he opposes. He was not proposing separatism, just self-government.
Gen Anupong, however, said the details were still unclear and had led to misunderstanding among southern residents. "I don't understand exactly what Gen Chavalit is advocating. Further discussions are needed. I believe he has a hidden agenda," he said.