EU delegation given a tour of police command down South

Pol LtGeneral Adul Saengsingkaeo and Pol LtGeneral Peera Pimpichet, who is the chief of a police task force in the South, greeted the diplomats.

Adul told reporters that he welcomed the visit because it was important to be open and transparent to the international community.

Local Muslims and human rights organisations have often accused security forces in the deep South of torturing suspects and carrying out target killings, all the while blaming the violence on a new generation of MalayMuslim insurgents.

Kasit also took the team to the Pattani campus of Yala Islamic University where they met the rector, Ismail Lutphi Japakiya, one of the most influential Muslim clerics in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

The minister said the visit was an opportunity to meet representatives from various sectors, including the civil society and religion, urging local leaders to express any dissatisfaction they might have toward the state or its policies.

 Sithipong Jantraviroj, secretarygeneral of the Muslim Attorney Centre, said he had told the EU delegation that access to justice was still a problem for many people in the restive region where more than 3,500 have been killed since January 2004.

Abhisit Vejjajiva's government has priorities the conflict in the Malayspeaking South and included the foreign ministry in its "mini Cabinet" to look for solutions.

A legislation to give the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre legal basis is currently being debated. The aim is to bring back civilian supremacy in the restive region after the fiveyear long militaryled initiatives failed to curb the violence or win over local Malays.