| Thai PM Says Fairness Is Best Way To Resolve Southern Conflict |
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BANGKOK, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said today that autonomy for southern Thailand could never work.
"I am confident that fairness is the best way to resolve the conflict (there)," he said in the Thai Parliament in reply to the Member of Parliament for Narathiwat, Dr Waemahadee Waedaoh.
Some quarters had suggested that independence demanded by separatist groups in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat was not viable, but Thailand should offer a certain degree of autonomy to the people in the predominantly Muslim region.
Thailand's influential Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban was also of the view that autonomy would not work in that region but did not elaborate.
"I'm not going to say anything that will create disputes," he said when asked about Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) deputy president Kasturi Mahkota's statement that they were willing to negotiate with the Thai government through a third party, including Malaysia.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has accepted an invitation from Abhisit to visit the restive region next month after their annual consultation in the capital.
More than 3,600 people have died in daily violence since separatist groups resumed an armed insurgency in January 2004 to seek independence for Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala bordering Malaysia.
Bangkok, which has despatched more than 60,000 troops to the area, said the violence had dropped compared with previous years, but bombings and shootings still occurred.
On the planned visit by opposition Puea Thai Party chairman and former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to Malaysia and promote his proposed autonomous 'Pattani City', Suthep said that he was not worried as it was a domestic issue.
"We will continue with our policies," he said.
Chavalit said he had sought a meeting with Malaysian officials during his trip to Malaysia next week to discuss several issues of common interest, among them, the southern problem, rice, rubber and the halal industry.
-- BERNAMA
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