A new branch office building of the ethnic political party, the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) was inaugurated this morning in Burma's northern Kachin State, said local participants. The party intends to contest the 2010 polls in the country.
The two-storey office building of the KSPP is in Myothit Quarter in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. The inauguration was done by Kachin Church leaders of different denominations between 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. local time, according to those who attended.
Though the new party office was inaugurated, the party’s name was not mentioned in the signboard outside the building. The name will be written after the party becomes legal, said party officials in Myitkyina.
The KSPP office inauguration comes soon after two Kachin armed groups officially transformed to the Burmese junta-controlled entities --- the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) as three battalions of the Border Guard Force on November 8 and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group as two local militia groups on October 16.
The inauguration was attended by over 100 people including some Kachin dignitaries--- KSPP leader and former Vice-president No. 2 of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Dr. Manam Tu Ja, Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum former general secretary of Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) and peace mediator, Dr. Lahkyen La Ja, general secretary of KIO, Zahkung Ting Ying former leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), Church leaders and military officers.
The KSPP was founded early this year by the Kachin State Interim Committee (KSIC) formed by the two largest Kachin armed groups--- the NDA-K, the KIO, and the Myitkyina-based Kachin Nationals Consultative Assembly (KNCA), the umbrella organization for all Kachins based on Kachin national politics.
The party is not a legal entity yet and is still waiting for the junta's announcement for registration of new political parties to contest the scheduled 2010 elections in the country. However the party is mobilizing Kachin people in the state since early this year, according to party officials.
The KSPP boasts about 100 members mainly from the KIO, NDA-K and KNCA. The party leaders are mobilizing Kachin people to help in the struggle to achieve autonomy of Kachins by political means.
So far the Burmese junta has not announced the date for the election and the election commission.
