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Anupong insisted the Army does not have the mandate to decide on the matter.|

"The role of the Army at this particular juncture is to enforce law and order in the deep South," he said.

Pulo's foreign affairs chief, Kasturi Mahkota, said Tuesday his and other separatist organisations stood ready to carryout "dialogue" with the hope that it will leads to "formal negotiations" with the Thai government but that it must be carry out "in good faith".

 Kasturi dismissed statement from Army's spokesman Col Acra Thiproch who was quoted Tuesday as saying "Pulo was more interested in the well being of its own organisation" than seeing a permanent solution to the problem in the deep South.

 Acra said the most important organisations for Thailand to deal with is the Barisan Revolusi Nasional - Coordinate (BRNC), another long standing separatist organisation that emerged in the late 1960s. Acra blamed the BRNC for much of the violence in the restive region but fall short of suggesting that the government or the Army should carry out negotiation with them.

 Kasturi said differences between the longstanding groups have diminished greatly and that the BRNC has also agreed in principle the need to carry out dialogue with the Thai authorities.

 Pulo and Thai Army have over the past three years been engaged in a series of secret dialogue for pave a way for formal negotiation. Thai Army sources said the dialogue process has been held hostage to national politics that pitted supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra pitted against street protestors.

Kasturi said Pulo can help bring the BRNC to the dialogue process. "Like Pulo, the BRNC would like to see an end to the violence in the Malay historic homeland," Kasturi said.

 Director of the Prince of Songkhla University's Deep South Watch, Assoc. Professor Srisompob Jitpiromsri, said it is still unclear as what kind of capacity and influences the longstanding groups such as Pulo and BRNC still have over the Malayspeaking region. However, the government needs to take the issue of dialogue with these groups more seriously.

 Analysts and Patani Malay exiled leaders said it is not clear as to what extent the longstanding groups have over the conduct of the new generation of militants on the ground. However, according to them, long standing groups such as Pulo and BRNC could help serve as the link.

 "The minute the militants on the ground surface, the Thai military will not hesitate to kill them," said an exiled leader in Kelantan, Malaysia, who spoke on condition of anonymity.