People & Power investigates the conflict in southern Thailand which is now in its seventh year.

Thailand is predominantly a Buddhist country but the majority of people in its three southernmost provinces, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are Muslims and ethnically Malay in origin. For the best part of a century, heavy handed efforts to integrate them into the wider Thai state have caused resentment and sometimes open rebellion.

This situation worsened markedly in 2001 when efforts by Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s then prime minister, to expand his political influence in the south, infuriated separatists. They responded with attacks on the Thai military and state employees, which in turn provoked a crackdown by the authorities.

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