“Thaksin said he agrees with my reconciliation effort and wants to see Thai people talking to each other,” the Chart Thai Pattana Party adviser said during a press briefing yesterday.
Sanan, who initiated the reconciliation plan, met Thaksin for 15 minutes during a work trip to a temple in Norway last Saturday.
“I asked him to forget the past and not to get furious. Everybody should join hands to solve the problems in the country. Thaksin just laughed and told me to continue the plan,” Sanan said.
“Neither of us laid down any conditions. I didn’t talk about an amnesty,” he said.
“Thaksin is healthy and doesn’t look ill, as rumoured. We giggled,” the deputy prime minister said, adding that he had not asked Thaksin about where he was living, or been told of his movements.
Sanan said he met Thaksin personally and was not working on behalf of the government.
“I’m not a policeman and have no power to arrest anyone. Even policemen who have met Thaksin abroad cannot arrest him. They have to inform the host country first. Don’t be confused,” the deputy PM said.
Sanan said he had informed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva about the meeting. He said he would pursue reconciliation further by having talks with Democrats, the Bhum Jai Thai, Army and red-shirt leaders. He expected his own reconciliation blueprint could be finished and presented to all concerned parties in January next year.
The deputy premier has had talks with numerous political groups over the past few months to gather views on ways to bring about reconciliation.
