Bangkok ready to talk to Islamic militant group

Thailand says it is ready to hold peace talks with the leader of an Islamic insurgent organization after he reportedly gave up a demand for a separate homeland in the country's Muslim south.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he has assigned the army commander in the south to talk to Wan Kadir Che Man, the leader of Bersatu, an umbrella group of three insurgent organizations.

"Talking with this deviant man may yield some fruits, because he has many followers. Many people still have faith in him," Thaksin said.

Defense Minister Chetta Thanajaro told reporters that the government had already made "official-level contact" with Wan Kadir.

"If the leader wishes to talk we are ready to talk," Chetta said.

Wan Kadir was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying that he is willing to give up a century-old demand for a separate Muslim homeland in the south, the only Muslim-majority area in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

Wan Kadir's apparent willingness to talk about autonomy rather than a separate homeland could be a major step in ending recent violence in the Muslim south that has left more than 200 people dead this year alone.

"This is the age of globalization. The world has moved on and there is no more room for separatism," Wan Kadir was quoted as saying by The Nation.

Reconciliation can come about only if Thailand's minority Muslims are given more "political space" and have a bigger say in the development of the south, said Wan Kadir, who lives in exile in Malaysia.

Activities by insurgent groups in the south have raised fears that Thailand could become another breeding ground for terrorist organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian group with ties to al-Qaeda.

However, there has been no evidence of deep foreign involvement in the south so far.

Thai Muslims, who are linguistically and culturally closer to Malays in Malaysia, complain that the government does not recognize their Islamic Malay culture, tries to suppress their language and discriminates against them in jobs and education.

In comments yesterday to the BBC's Thai language service, Wan Kadir said he is ready to talk with the government and spoke about the cultural chasm between Thai Buddhists and Muslims.

"It is not that the Thai government does not want to resolve the problem, but they do not understand me, they do not understand us. I am a Malay Thai," Wan said.

The separatist insurgency has simmered for decades in the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. On April 28, security forces killed 107 alleged militants who tried to storm 10 security outposts in coordinated attacks.

Wan Kadir, who has studied in the US, went into exile nearly 15 years ago after Thai authorities accused him of being a member of a separatist militant group, the Pattani United Liberation Organization.