Pallop is 'just an adviser'
Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday that his outspoken adviser Pallop Pinmanee, who opposes dialogue with militants, is not authorised to do any actual work in the restive South.
"I appointed him to be an adviser [to the director of the Internal Security Operation Command, or Isoc], not an operational officer, so he does not need to work on the ground," Sonthi told reporters. "If he has any useful ideas or information about the situation in the South, he can just let me know." Pallop was appointed recently to be an Isoc adviser as he was a deputy director of the organisation during Thaksin Shinawatra's administration. He was known as a hardliner who never compromised with militants in the restive region. He was sidelined from the southern job because of his involvement in the bloodshed at the historic Krue Se mosque in Pattani in 2004 when 32 Muslims were killed in an uprising. He was sacked from Isoc last year when Thaksin alleged that he was involved in an assassination plot against him. Pallop said on Saturday that he disagreed with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on the idea to have a dialogue with the militants because such a move might improve the position of the insurgents. The military-installed government has been unable to contain the violence in the deep South.
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