Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has expressed to withdraw his hard-line position on violence in the South and agreed to try peaceful means to address the problem, local newspaper reported Friday.

At a joint parliamentary session on Thursday, Thaksin echoed advises by Democratic Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, saying that the legal process would be respected and heavy-handed tactics would diminish.

"We are human, and human make things right or wrong. I am now determined to undo what I have done wrong in the past," Thaksin was quoted by Bangkok Post newspaper as saying.

Abhisit proposed nine solutions during the session to help the government restore peace and unity to the Muslim-dominated deep South, where unabated violence has claimed more than 700 lives over the past 15 months.

Thaksin, for the first time, confirmed that he would not pursuehis earlier zoning policy, which has sparked widespread criticism from analysts and politicians.

Under the policy, villages in the three southernmost provinces were divided into three color-coded zones based on their extent of violence. Communities deemed sympathetic to the insurgents would not receive development fund from the government.

Thaksin also pledged to pullout combat troops from the restive South and use "legal means" in dealing with people who broke the law and posed a threat to public safety and national security.

The government's earlier decision to mobilize some 40,000 police and soldiers to the deep South was lashed by lawmakers, who argued that convention security efforts, along with ambiguous rules of engagement and questionable tactics, have bred more resentment among local Muslims.

Most MPs and senators agreed that violence in the South was caused not by poverty or economic difficulty but the fact that state authorities failed to understand Muslims, their way of life,culture and religion.

Thaksin said he would give full support to the National Reconciliation Commission in dealing with the violence in the South and pledged the government would not interfere with.

Source: Xinhua