The organisation will have a structure similar to the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) dissolved by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2002.

The SBPAC was widely accepted by local people as an organisation which successfully controlled the conflict during its two decades of operation, said Nimu Makajeh, former deputy chairman of Yala Islamic Committee.

"It's good to have a rebirth of the SBPAC and I expect the new organisation will unite the operations of agencies to contain violence," he said.

The Interior Ministry's centre will be launched on October 1 to mobilise local participation for development and containing violence in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, an official said.

"It is the right way to allow civilians to lead the operation to solve the problems in the South rather than relying too much on armed forces," Nimu said.

Nimanase Sama-ari, president of the Muslim Youth Association of Thailand, supported the idea but was concerned that it would overlap the tasks of state agencies such as the military-run Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command.

The idea to have civilian-run administrative bodies in the deep South is not completely new. The now-defunct, peace-dedicated National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) proposed the Peaceful Strategic Administrative Centre for Southern Border Provinces (PSAC) with a legal and clear political mandate to run the region. But none of the authorised agencies responded to the proposal.

Former NRC member Ahmed Somboon Bualuang said the Interior Ministry's idea reflected no unity among state agencies and lacked a strategy to contain violence.

It also failed to include an NRC initiative which suggested a comprehensive framework for restoring peace, he said.