Deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now in Beijing, will return home after martial law is lifted and may re-enter politics under a planned new constitution, his lawyer said Thursday.

Noppadon Patama said the ousted billionaire telecoms tycoon had flown to China from London, where he has been since the September 19 coup, to "rest and meet friends" and had no immediate plans to return to his homeland.

"He will return to Thailand when it is the right time, when martial law is lifted," Noppadon, a British-educated lawyer, told reporters. "He will consider returning to politics when the constitution is written up."

Earlier Thursday, coup leader and army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who has made clear Thaksin would not be welcome in Thailand any time soon, said the issue of his return would be in the hands of the interim, army-appointed government.

"If he wants to come back to Thailand he has to contact the government, not the Council for National Security," Sonthi said.

Thailand remains under martial law, although there are few signs of the Council for National Security the body formed by the coup leaders who retain the power to fire the government enforcing bans on political gatherings and critical reporting.

The government has said many times it will lift martial law "as soon as possible" when "undercurrents" had been cleared. Sonthi said the army was keeping a close eye on potential groups of Thaksin allies in provinces that might stage rallies against the post-coup government.

"We are following them closely in various provinces where intelligence suggests they may stage protests, but we aren't so concerned," he said.

Thai media said this week that Thaksin planned to meet his successor, Surayud Chulanont, at a Southeast Asian leaders meeting in China, although Surayud and Chinese officials denied the reports.

Since booting Thaksin out in Thailand's 18th coup in 74 years of on-off democracy, Sonthi has admitted that the generals were struggling to come up with solid evidence to back up their claims of "rampant corruption" under his administration.

The army-appointed National Counter Corruption Commission was due to meet Sonthi later Thursday to update the military leaders on the progress of probes on 13 cased of alleged graft under the Thaksin government, commission chief Panthep Klanarongran said.

New PM apologizes to Muslims

New Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont apologized to southern Muslims Thursday for past hardline government policies blamed for stoking unrest in the rebellious region.

Speaking to 1,000 Muslim leaders, Surayud vowed to investigate the disappearance of Muslims since the separatist insurgency began in early 2004 and to root out corrupt and abusive officials in the three southernmost provinces.

"I'm here today to apologize for what past and present governments have done," Surayud said in the southern town of Pattani, appealing for help to end violence in which more than 1,700 people have been killed.

"I come here today to reach out to everyone and say: 'It's my fault. I am sorry,'" Surayud said, admitting that as a former Amry chief he had failed to oppose Thaksin's iron-fist policies.

Surayud's apology earned applause from Muslim religious leaders in the region.

"His apology is a key to restoring peace in the future, which will take time, but it has already defused hostility and resentment in many Muslim minds," said Waedueramae Maminchi, head of the Islamic Council of Pattani.

In 2002, Thaksin dissolved a 21-year-old multi-agency body once credited with keeping stability there, saying the low-key separatist insurgencies of the 1970s and 1980s had come to an end and the violence was caused mainly by "petty thugs."

After the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) was disbanded, unrest brewed and exploded in January 2004 when militants launched arson attacks on schools across the region and raided an army camp.

Thaksin sent thousands of troops and police to the region, a former sultanate annexed by Bangkok a century ago, launching a hunt for suspects.

Surayud's visit came a day after the government revived the SBPAC, which focused on rural development and probed complaints of graft and injustice, and appointed a Buddhist southerner to head the agency.

(China Daily November 3, 2006)