Dialogue should be with the government: PULO

In a statement posted in the website, the foreign affairs chief of the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), Kasturi Mahkota, said the movement stands ready to discuss the future of the deep South but "only with legitimate representatives of the Royal Thai Government and through a dialogue process moderated by a neutral and impartial third party."

Katuri said he does not want to be lured into the ongoing loggerhead between the government and the opposition. He was responding to recent reports that quoted Chavalit's unnamed supporters that the separatist movements of the deep South support his idea of granting the restive region some sort of autonomous status as a way to quell the ongoing insurgency.

The government has also distanced themselves from Chavalit's proposal, suggesting that the retired general was trying to make a name for himself.

The Thai government has establish an informal dialogue process with Pulo and other long standing groups in late 2006 by the then government of Surayud Chulanont. The process was shelved by the Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat administrations amid political crisis and street protests in Bangkok.

The Abhisit Vejjajiva administration is trying to pick up from where Surayud had left off by restarting the dialogue process. A small team of top ranking officers from security community has been meeting secretly almost on a monthly basis with these exiled groups, including the Pulo.

Political insiders said the move has been extremely slow, partly because of the sensitive nature of the idea, which the government has yet to go public with, and the fact that many in the security community have yet to endorse the move that could be very costly in political terms.