There were prayers made for all the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the Kachin resistance - especially since the 17-year ceasefire with the govt fell apart on June 9, 2011. A message from KIO Chairman Lanyaw Zawng Hra was read aloud to the crowd that gathered. According to attending KIO officer Kareng Nawng Awn,  the KIO Chairman’s message noted that federalism is impossible under the 2008 Constitution.  It was distributed to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) serving on the frontlines.

The KIO's original uprising that officially began on Feb. 5, 1961, was fueled, in part, by widespread opposition from the Kachin public to efforts by Prime Minister U Nu government to make Buddhism the country's official religion. Most Kachin are Christian.

Another motivating factor was the failure of the new government to honour the 1947 Panglong agreement. During the agreement made between General Aung San and prominent ethnic leaders Burma's ethnic groups were granted some autonomy over their own affairs in exchange for supporting the fledgling nation's independence efforts. However the agreement on Feb.12, nearly 66 years ago, never came to fruition. Aung San and most of his pre-independence cabinet were assassinated only months later. Whatever little gains the Kachin and other ethnic groups made since Burma’s independence were reversed during the long and dark years that followed Ne Win's 1962 coup when the country fell into a military dictatorship.

About 100 members of the Kachin community and solidarity groups living in New Delhi, India gathered to remember the anniversary of the Kachin uprising. Organizers held a held a special prayer service for the more than 100,000 people who have been displaced by the 18-month conflict.

“They (government troops) are doing what they want,” said Gun La, a refugee who remembers as child when his village repeatedly came under fire by the Burma army preceding the 1994 ceasefire. Gun La now serves as a leader for the Kachin refugee community living in New Delhi.

“There will be no resolution to the fighting,”  he said “all people of the country (Burma) should come together and work for peace like what we did to stop the Myitsone dam construction.” Gun La  was referring to the now officially suspended mega dam project in Kachin state that drew nationwide criticism.

Laiza remains under siege and has become increasingly isolated over the past few weeks after government troops took control of several of the strategic hill tops. Most of the staff from the KIO's operations headquarters have been evacuated to more secure places within KIO-controlled territories.