PM denies police chief meeting plan

       The prime minister says he has no plans to call a meeting of the police board on Friday to discuss the national police chief issue.
       Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said media reports he had scheduled the meeting one day before he leaves for the United Nations General Assembly in New York were "pure speculation".
       He said the meeting schedule was pending further checks on "conflicting information" the board had received and on details that board members had discussed at the past meeting.
       Some board members had received similar information but with significantly different details and a verification of the information was needed, he said.
       The prime minister did not elaborate,saying only the next meeting of the board could not be held until all board members had verified the particular information and had agreed unanimously on it.
       Mr Abhisit refused to confirm reports that Pol Gen Suthep Thammarak had threatened to resign as a member of the police board. He said he was unable to say whether the reports were true.
       He confirmed in his weekly radio and television address yesterday that outgoing national police chief Patcharawat Wongsuwon had been transferred to an inactive post at Government House after he was found by the National AntiCorruption Commission to have violated the law in last year's Oct 7 police crackdown on anti-government demonstrators at parliament.
       The NACC ruling required Pol Gen Patcharawat to step down as national police chief, Mr Abhisit said.
       Meanwhile, a human rights group has called on the government to place police reform on the national agenda.
       Metha Maskhao, secretary-general of the Campaign for Human Rights,said the government should consider adopting the Surayud Chulanont government's ideas and guidelines drafted by a police committee on reforming the police force.
       The Campaign for Human Rights plans to launch a new website, Police Watch, as a channel for people to sub-mit complaints about police, he said.The group called for a speedy and straightforward investigation into reports that two senior police officers were behind the recent bomb attack on a house owned until recently by a NACC member.
       The group urged the prime minister to appoint an officer who cared about human rights to head the national police force.
       Many serious human rights violations remained unresolved and the new police chief must lead the police in investigating these cases, Mr Metha said.