Just as frustrating was the fact that Pradit, and more than 200 other villagers from his community who have sought refuge in a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Yala, do not know what the future holds for them.

Three weeks ago Pradit and some 200 of his neighbours fled their community for Wat Nirotsangkaram amid growing fears that more killings would come their way.

The daily murders and violence all around them has become so unbearable that the Buddhist villagers decided to pack up and leave - and in the process became refugees in their own homeland.

But life here on this holy ground where the displaced villagers live on the generosity of others is not exactly what Pradit or his fellow villagers are looking for.

A military checkpoint is now at the gate, while public health officials have established a temporary clinic. A one-room primary school for the children has been set up, while the older kids are bussed to a high school in downtown Yala. The villagers say they want the government to buy their land and set up a co-op for them outside of the three Muslim-majority provinces.

Sitting on a bench overlooking the small road that leads to this hilltop temple, Pradit said he won't go back to his village if the violence continues. Some villagers appeared to be in favour of the idea of a permanent military unit in their community - but Pradit doesn't think it will work.

"They can't even defend themselves from the day-to-day attacks so what makes you think they can defend us?" he said.

Pradit said he missed his daily routine of earning a living for himself and his family but appreciates all the help they have been receiving from the local community. But living on handouts is not the life he wants.

Just a stone's throw away, the village elders and a small group of government officials were toying with various ideas - including a return to their village where a security details awaits them, or to relocate to another area outside the three provinces where more than 1,800 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed since January 2004 from the ongoing violence.

For a country that prides itself as having a so-called good neighbour policy to millions of refugees from Indochina at the height of the Cold War, as well as the ethnic minorities who fled civil war in Burma, the plight of Pradit and his neighbours has struck a sensitive nerve in Thailand.

Embarrassed by the incident, government agencies have tried hard to persuade these internally displaced villagers to return to their homes because their departure would mean victory for the insurgents.

"The government just talks and talks. I don't see anything concrete," said a stern looking elderly woman who turned her back on the meeting and headed towards her temporary living quarters.

No breakthrough was reached at the meeting and Pradit and his fellow villagers say they are running out of hope.

Three years of endless violence has driven a big wedge between the Buddhist and Muslim communities here and sadly, no one seems to know when the killings will stop.

For the time being, it appears that Pradit and the other displaced villagers are staying put. They have nowhere else to go.

Don Pathan

The Nation