The report, which will be submitted to the caretaker government and released via the media to the public, contains suggestions on how to restore peace and achieve reconciliation in the predominantly Muslim region.

Chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, the 50-member NRC was set up in March last year after the failure of Thaksin Shinawatra's government to contain a spate of violence that erupted at the beginning of 2004.

More than 1,200 people have died in the violence so far. In its report, which was seen by The Nation, the NRC predicted there would be more casualties in the future. Bombs would be more frequently used and ordinary people would be increasingly targeted, it said.

The NRC acknowledged the existence of militant movements in the region and that such groups were a cause of the violence in the deep South, but paid more attention to cultural and structural factors behind the violence.

Injustice is a key element used by militants as a pretext for causing violence, according to the report.

The NRC recommended the government set up civil, unarmed bodies to solve the problem, rather than relying heavily on military operations.

It also suggested establishing an "unarmed army" to help ease the conflict and to engage in dialogue with militants.

It recommended the government harmonise local interpretations of the history of the former Patani kingdom with mainstream national history, as well as try to use the Malay language as another "working language" in the three southernmost provinces, the vast majority of whose residents are ethnic Malay Muslims.

On the structural level, the NRC suggested the government pass a law aimed at achieving reconciliation and set up a centre for "peace strategy operations" in the southern border provinces to integrate agencies and strengthen local communities.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation