Thaksin met with PULO leader: Thaworn

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Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra met with a PULO leader in Kuala Lumpur despite his denial, Democrat MP Thaworn Senneam said on Tuesday.

Despite his denials, fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra did meet with a PULO leader in Kuala Lumpur, Democrat MP Thaworn Senneam said on Tuesday.

"My concern about the Thaksin-PULO talks is that they took place without any consultations with security agencies," he said.

Thaworn said he understood Thaksin had initiated the talks via arrangements made by the Malaysian authorities.

He said that unlike Thaksin, he had held talks with the southern insurgents with the acknowledgement of the security authorities, including the commanding general of the 4th Army Region.

He said he was worried that Thaksin's approach to the talks might have caused confusion among security authorities.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama dismissed the allegation about the talks, saying that although Thaksin was in Kuala Lumpur last month, he did not meet with the PULO leader.

Noppadon said he suspected the Democrats were trying to discredit the government by spreading a fabricated story.

He challenged the Democrats to prove the talks had taken place.

Earlier Thaksin gave an interview in Hong Kong denying his talks with the PULO leader.

The alleged talks, if they did indeed happen, took place at a five-star hotel on March 14, according to reliable sources in Thailand and Malaysia.

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Edited April 10, 2012 by FarangFarang

[FarangFarang]

Thaksin 'talked to rebels'

The Democrat Party has accused ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and Prime Minister Yingluck of holding secret talks with southern rebel leaders.

The allegations yesterday were bluntly denied by the Pheu Thai Party.

Days after the chief of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) Thawee Sodsong denied talking with separatist leaders, Democrat MP for Songkhla Thaworn Senneam claimed Thaksin and Ms Yingluck had broken the government's stance of not negotiating with the insurgents.

Mr Thaworn, who was responsible for curbing violence in the far South when he was deputy interior minister under the previous Democrat-led government, told the House Thaksin had met 18 representatives of the southern rebels in a "neighbouring country" on Feb 22 and Ms Yingluck had talked with 15 representatives of the insurgents on March 17.

Democrat MP for Yala Prasert Pongsuwansiri said Thaksin was seen hugging a leader of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) in a picture posted on the group's website.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva echoed Mr Thaworn's allegation, saying several items of information confirmed Thaksin had held talks with the separatists. He also warned that any involvement of the former premier would complicate efforts to end the unrest.

Deep South Watch, a non-governmental agency monitoring the southern violence, reported on its website that one of the key leaders of the separatists joining the talks with Thaksin was Hassan Toyib, a leading Pulo member.

Thaksin could not be reached for comments about his alleged involvement in the talks with the separatists. Ms Yingluck made no comment on the issue.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung strongly denied Thaksin and Ms Yingluck had negotiated with rebel representatives and called the Democrats' accusations groundless.

He said it was not the responsibility or the authority of Thaksin to solve the southern problems and called the Pulo information unreliable.

Mr Thaworn also questioned the sincerity of the government in tackling the problems in the South.

The prime minister chairs the committee under the SBPAC to work out a strategy to solve the problems in the far South. But Ms Yingluck and Mr Chalerm never attended the panel's meetings, Mr Thaworn said.

Mr Thaworn also urged the government to set up a forward command to prove its determination to restore peace in the far South and boost the morale of people and officials in the region.

He pointed out that the operations of the forward command set up by the Democrat-led government and shut down by the Pheu Thai-led administration would be more efficient than Mr Chalerm's idea of having a support unit direct authorities to work out plans to curb violence in the deep South in the wake of the weekend bombings in Pattani, Yala and Hat Yai.

Mr Thaworn was referring to the Bangkok-based support unit set up by Mr Chalerm to integrate work among state agencies.

Mr Chalerm has said the unit is situated at the Royal Thai Police headquarters.

Representatives from security agencies, including the National Security Council, Defence Ministry, and intelligence agencies would meet once a week to work measures to try to quell the southern violence, he said.

Mr Chalerm rejected the Democrats' call to set up a forward command, saying the presence of a cabinet minister would only increase the burden on security authorities in the region.

He also urged the Democrats to back the idea as the party should have useful information about the region as it is the opposition party's political stronghold.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa said the government would impose "safety zones" that would be subject to tough security measures in the South to prevent further attacks.

He said the government had intended to impose such zones earlier in Yala province but local businessmen sought a postponement to avoid hurting tourism and trade.

He thought this leniency had raised the chance of terror attacks.

But this time Gen Yutthasak said the safety zones were necessary and would be imposed in areas that might be targeted by terrorists.

He said residents would have to be patient with the measure as it was for the sake of public safety.

The deputy prime minister did not think the present situation justified a curfew.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/287673/thaksin-talked-to-rebels

[FarangFarang]

Did Thaksin meet insurgents?

Alleged sightings of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra meeting quietly with Muslim insurgent chieftains just before the bloody bombings in Songkhla and Yala have kicked up a major political storm. The ruling Pheu Thai Party and the man himself have vehemently denied any such rendezvous. Several sources, including some from the insurgency side, have contradicted that, however.

The Nation has learned some details of the "meeting", in which Thaksin supposedly stopped short of apologising but expressed regret for some of the violent incidents carried out by authorities during his administration.

The sources said he told the group of 15 exiled leaders from long-standing Malay Muslim separatist groups that his harsh tactics in the deep South were partly the result of his being "misinformed" by authorities.

Thaksin urged all sides to let bygones be bygones and work together to bring peace back to the restless region. He gave each exiled leader a hug before leaving, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Thaksin was not accompanied by any Thai government official to the meeting in the middle of last month, about two weeks before the bomb attacks in Yala and Hat Yai, that was facilitated by a Malaysian government agency.

"I thought he [Thaksin] was sincere with his gesture," said one exiled separatist who was at the meeting. "But this conflict is beyond the control of one man."

Refusing to take part in the secret meeting were the elders of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C), whose cadre told The Nation that they "could never forgive Thaksin for what he has done to the Malays of Patani" when he was premier. They pointed to the Tak Bai massacre and other incidents in which he refused to punish abusive authorities.

This source said it didn't matter whether Thaksin's overtures were sincere or not because the so-called exiled leaders whom Thaksin met had no real influence on the militants in the field.

The BRN-Coordinate's refusal to deal with the Thaksin camp does not mean that the group has ruled out the idea of talking or negotiating with the Thai state. There are other entities in the Kingdom that they are willing to talk to but only if the "situation" is right, the source said.

The BRN-C member said his outfit has the best working relationship with the Juwae, or armed militants currently operating on the ground, but the relationship is too fluid to establish a shared command.

Juwae are organised into semi-independent cells that span the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat and the four Malay-speaking districts in Songkhla. Juwae and the BRN-Coordinate are working towards establishing a shared command.

Unless the BRN-C and the Juwae can consolidate into one entity, with the BRN leaders forming the political wing and juwae the military wing of the movement, it would be difficult to move forward with any negotiations or peace talks with the Thai side, the source said.

According to exiled leaders, there isn't much unity among the so-called Patani Malay separatist groups, many of whom surfaced in the late 1960s to take up arms against the Thai state.

The Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), for example, has three persons claiming to be the president of the group. Similarly, the identities of the members of the BRN-Coordinate remain heavily guarded. Like Pulo, the BRN-Coordinate has many self-professed leaders.

In the view of one BRN-Coordinate cadre from the faction that boycotted the Thaksin meeting, the recent attack in Yala that killed at least 11 people and wounded more than 100 was the juwae's way of turning down Thaksin's offer of an olive branch.

Hat Yai was hit on the same day as Yala but Hat Yai was not on the separatist movement's agenda, the source said.

The car bombing of the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai was probably part of a turf war between influential figures with an axe to grind with authorities, the source said.

Juwae selling their skills to crime syndicates is not uncommon, he said. The Lee Gardens Plaza hotel and shopping complex was also targeted in September 2006 when one of the six motorcycle bombs that rocked the city exploded right in front of it.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Did-Thaksin-meet-insurgents-30179611.html

[FarangFarang]

Adviser adamant Thaksin held talks

A member of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre's advisory council insists that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra did negotiate with a separatist leader in Malaysia.

Thaksin contacted the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) to have a talk with its leader in Malaysia on March 18, Chaiyong Maneerungsakul, a member of the Advisory Council for the SBPAC, said.

The information was based on intelligence reports he gathered, he said.

Mr Chaiyong accepted he had earlier given this information to a Chinese language newspaper in Malaysia _ Kwong Wah _ which recently published the news.

The report has been picked up by many observers in Thailand, particularly on social networking sites.

Earlier, Thaksin told the Bangkok Post he was not in a position to hold talks with separatists and strongly denied accusations by Democrat MPs who last week claimed he had met representatives of rebel groups.

Some of those who claim he held the talks have cited a photo of Thaksin hugging a Pulo leader.

Mr Chaiyong said Thaksin was also trying to hold a second round of talks, but after his earlier talks with the separatist leader were made pubic, the negotiations probably would be terminated.

Mr Chaiyong does not believe Thaksin's recent talk with the Pulo leader led to the March 31 bomb blasts in Songkhla's Hat Yai district and in Yala because the bombs were believed to have been plotted as long ago as late last year by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate separatist group. This was before the talks were held.

A possible link between negotiations with insurgent groups and the bomb blasts in Hat Yai and Yala province was earlier raised by army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha who was worried that talking with only certain groups might infuriate others and motivate them to launch violent acts.

Violence in the deep South continued yesterday when insurgent suspects torched 18 security cameras in Yala's Raman district.

Eight street cameras in tambon Kotabaru, eight in tambon Noen Ngam and two in tambon Ba Ngoi were damaged when arsonists placed burning motorcycle tyres under them, police said.

A group of teenagers driving motorcycles was thought to have been responsible for the arson attacks as they were seen in the early hours yesterday when the fires started, witnesses said.

Investigators said the attacks might be an act of retaliation, after militant suspect Dulahaleng Yamasak and his colleagues were nabbed recently.

In another development, police have asked the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of suspected separatist Seri Waemamu for his alleged involvement in the March 31 car bomb at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai district.

Police say he is one of the two men caught by the hotel's security camera as they were walking upstairs from its underground car park, where the car bomb was left.

Mr Seri, a resident in Songkhla's Thepha district, faces arrest warrants in 12 cases, Songkhla police chief Suwit Choensiri said. He denied the other man in the footage was Ruslan Baima, a resident in Songkhla's Chana district, as earlier reported.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/288157/adviser-adamant-thaksin-held-talks