In the wake of a spike in violence in south Thailand, ambassadors from Muslim countries have been invited to a meeting today to offer ideas to handle the situation, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday.

He added that the conclusion of this meeting will be presented at a forum between the government and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference tomorrow.

This is the first time that Muslim diplomats have been invited to a meeting by this government, which has been in power for a year now, the ministry’s permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkaew said. Tomorrow’s meeting between OIC executives, ambassadors from Muslim countries as well as ministry officials will be presided over by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

As for the new government centre ― dubbed Pentagon II ― set up to curb the violence in the South, Army commander General Prayuth Chan-ocha said he would meet Yingluck today to discuss the centre’s organisation, personnel as well as its prospective base.

The authorities are wondering whether to base it at Government House or at the nearby Internal Security Operations Command.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, meanwhile, has repeated his invitation for the opposition to help the government deal with the rising violence in the South and perhaps come up with a long-term solution, adding that an official invite would soon be extended to Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

As for the so-called Pentagon II, Chalerm said there would be no organisational changes in the existing mechanism, but the leadership would be changed. He went on to say that Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha would be in charge of running all military tactics, Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit be oversee Interior Ministry operations, while he personally would control the police department with Yingluck running the show at the top.

Chalerm then went on to say that the previous Democrat-led government under Abhisit’s leadership had taken very few counterinsurgency measures, adding that it had mishandled the situation. He also dismissed Abhisit’s criticism of the Pentagon II plan, saying: “You didn’t solve the problem when you were in power, now it’s purely my business that I want to set it up.”

As for the offer made to him via a reporter from the Nation Multimedia Group, he said he needed to study it further before making any comments. Reportedly, 40 suspected insurgents offered to surrender to the authorities provided they adhered to three conditions. However, Chalerm provided no details on this reporter, the 40 so-called insurgents or the three conditions.

Chalerm also said the violence in the deep South would only brought to an end via talks with expat Thais, especially “the hundreds of thousands of Thais who own tom yum kung shops overseas.”

Yuthasak Sasiprapha later added that security measures in the South “would never be the same,” adding that he would provide the details tomorrow.

Police, meanwhile, have tracked down a group of insurgents based in Songkhla to minimise the chance of them planning or carrying out new terror attacks after they identified Madari Tueramae as a mastermind behind the car bomb attack at Lee Gardens Hotel in Hat Yai district a few months ago.

The four insurgent leaders wanted in the manhunt are Jehmah Wani, Seri Waemamu, Ruslan Baimah and Sakariya Samoh, all of whom are believed to be foreign-trained Runda Kumpalan Kecil commandos. (ANN)