Pulo's founder and president passes away

Kasturi Makota, Pulo's foreign affairs chief, confirmed the passing of Tenku Biro but declined to provide further details about the exact location except to say that it was in the Middle East.

"Out of consideration to the host country, we are not prepared to go into further details," Kasturi said.

Konku Bira was said to be in the late 1970s and his exact birth date was not known. He was borned in Narathiwat's Yi-ngor district.

Kasturi said Tonku Bira "will be missed."

Although he started his career in exiled as Pulo president of, over r the past recent years, Tonku Bira has become more nominal leader for the various Pulo factions.

"He has been ill for some time. Our struggle will go on," Kasturi said.

Thai intelligence sources said Tenku Bira spent much of his exiled life in Damascus, Syria, which they described Patani-Malay intellectual centre.

Tengku Biro founded Pulo in 1968 while studying at the Aligarh Muslim University in India.

In late 1990s, Pulo and other long standing separatist groups went under as their foot soldiers on the ground opted for amnesty from theThai government.

Since this round of separatist violence reurfaced in the deep South in late 2001, Tengku Bira once again resumed his old role, becoming the unifying symbol of the exiled separatist movements aborad.

"I found him to be quite a charming person, a man who was willing to listen to our side and willing to compromise," said a Thai Army intelligence officer who "enter into a dialogue with the Pulo leader in 1995.

"He supported the idea of dialogged in 1995, a time when other separatist organizations were still clinging on to very uncompromising positions," said the officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kasturi said the Pulo will hold a congress in the near future to elect a new president

Tengku Biro is survived by a son and a separatist movement that is at a crossroad. Pulo has been in engaging in secret dialogue with the Thai Army over the past four years but no major breakthrough has been reported.

The group consistently called for independence for the Malays' historical homeland in the southernmost border region of Thailand. But over the four years the group has lowered its demand and opted for dialogged with the Thai Army.

In April 7, 2007, Kentku Bira issued a statement calling for a "peaceful resolution to the conflict" in Malay-speaking southernmost provinces.

He said Pulo was " fully committed to finding a peaceful resolution t the conflict in Patani that has cost more than 3,000 lives since 2004."