Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – If the Burmese government sees the civil war in Burma as an insurgency problem, it will make it difficult to engage in a genuine political dialogue, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) said on Monday.
“It is clear that the KIO is regarded as an insurgent group and the demands made by the KIO are seen as insurgency issue,” said a letter sent to the government by the KIO. The letter said the government’s points of negotiation “are in fact the principles of surrender to the government.”
The KIO sent the letter to Kachin State government Border Security Minister Colonel Than Aung on Monday morning by e-mail.
The government sent a letter to the KIO on Friday through the Kachin State Peace and Stability Negotiating team calling for a temporary cease-fire and a political dialogue. Earlier, President Thein Sein offered a dialogue within the framework of the 2008 Constitution. The e-mail was a response to both statements, said KIO officials.
“We objected to the government seeing the armed ethnic groups, especially the KIO organization, as insurgents. We asked for certain issues to be included in the 2008 Constitution, but they didn’t accept them. So we expressed our stand now clearly and openly on what we cannot accept,” said KIO joint secretary La Nan.
The KIO said it viewed “fabricated and concocted facts” about the KIO “as an indication of the planned annihilation on the KIO.”
A state-run paper reported on Monday that the Kachin Independence Army burned 22 houses in Kharan Htidam village in Khaunglanphu Township in Kachin State on August 13, and 10 more houses and a primary school building on August 19. The paper reported that the KIO blew up the Mali suspension bridge in Tarlawgyi village in Myitkyina Township on August 20.
La Nan said the KIO rejected all of the allegations.
“We must say there is still a long way to go to reach a cease-fire agreement. Now they are saying a cease-fire means peace and a return to the legal fold and to do politics in the existing framework. So we have to negotiate a cease-fire with them from the very beginning,” he said.
Copies of the KIO letter were sent to the Kachin State Peace and Stability Negotiating team, the Kachin State government Chief Minister, the Kachin National Consultative Council and the Yunnan Province People’s Republic of China.
In the meantime, the KIO issued a statement that said government Infantry Battalion No. 74 stationed in Gawoo village in Manhsi Township fired heavy weapons on the village on August 20 at 8 p.m. It said shells fell on the residence of a school teacher, Mai Awng, killing a 6-year old female student. Mai Awng and four students were injured were taken to a KIO clinic in Namparlin village, said the KIO.
source from mizzima
http://mizzima.com/special/kachin-battle-report/5819-calling-us-insurgents-makes-political-dialogue-difficult-kio.html
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