Ethnic Kachins in northern Burma have kick started their campaign for contesting the 2010 general elections by the Burmese ruling junta soon after the Interim Kachin Committee (IKC) was formed on June 20, local sources said.
The IKC campaign is underway in 10 different areas in Hugawng Valley, Bhamo District, Putao District, Waingmaw areas and Myitkyina District including the three Kachin ceasefire groups' controlled areas --- Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and Lasang Awng Wa Ceasefire Group, said Dr. Manam Tu Ja, the Chairman of IKC and Vice-president No. 2 of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
At the same time, the IKC is preparing to form a state-based political party which will not be a totally ethnic-based party but will include the Kachin majority and non-Kachins in the State as soon as the junta authorizes registration of new political parties for the 2010 elections, Dr. Tu Ja said.
In the state-based party, the KIO and NDA-K have agreed that people in their organizations must completely drop out when they join the new party, said NDA-K and KIO insiders.
The party aims to garner a majority of Kachin votes and seats in the state parliament. However the military will automatically take 25% of state seats without going through the election process in 2010, KIO and NDA-K leaders said.
If the Kachins get a majority in the State parliament, Kachin representatives would have a chance to negotiate autonomy for Kachins with the newly elected government, KIO Dr. Tu Ja and NDA-K leader Zahkung Ting Ying told KNG last week.
This is the reason the IKC was formed in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State on June 20 by leaders of the biggest Kachin organizations such as KIO, NDA-K and Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA).
Initially, the IKC was formed with 50 members but now, there are over 60 members in the IKC-- 10 from the KIO, 10 from the KNCA, five from the NDAK while the rest are individual Kachin and non-Kachins except for religious leaders, Chairman Dr. Tu Ja said.
However, the KIO and NDA-K will not surrender its weapons till the end of the junta's seven-step roadmap and they hope to have a political dialogue separately on the rights of ethnic Kachins with a newly elected government after 2010 elections, the leaders of the two organizations said.
