The ongoing crucial central committee meeting of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Burma’s northern Kachin State has become the focal point of the monthly prayer service held in the last week of every month by Kachin Baptists, said church followers into prayers.

The KIO’s central committee meeting is debating the thorny Border Guard Force issue and what the outfit would do about it, given the mounting pressure from the Burmese ruling junta.

KIO leaders and the junta brass have met 10 times but have not been able to thrash out the contentious BGF issue leading to a situation where both sides are gearing  up for confronting each  other militarily.

Laiza, the headquarters of KIO in Kachin State, near China border. Photo: Kachin News Group.

This time around, the non-stop 24-hour rotational prayer service by Baptist followers focused mainly on the crucial meeting of two main Kachin organizations--- the KIO and the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), said church leaders.

The prayer service revolved around two topics---that a good decision be taken in the current KIO central committee meeting in Laiza on transforming the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed wing of the KIO to the Burmese Army-controlled BGF and about the largest Kachin Baptist conference under the aegis   of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) to be held from March 27 to 31 in Bhamo city, said followers who prayed.

Hundreds of Baptist followers in Laiza town, the headquarters of the KIO in Kachin State, near the China border concluded today the prayer service at Laiza Kachin Baptist Church at 8 a.m. local time, church sources said.

Rev. Sumlut Gun Seng, a young pastor said, “We pray to God for our Kachin people, KIO leaders and the current Burmese political situation as well as the Bhamo Baptist conference”.  

On the same day, Nawng E Hku Church, another Kachin Baptist Church in Laiza also started the 24-hour circular prayer service from 6 a.m. yesterday to 6 a.m. this morning. Dozens of followers joined the prayer service, said followers.

Most Laiza residents are KIO/KIA personnel and their families and they also joined the prayer services in the two churches, said local residents.

The two topics for the prayer were selected by the two churches even as people in Kachin State are worried over the resumption of civil war between KIO and the Burmese Army over the failed negotiations regarding the BGF.

The KIO central committee meeting started on Monday, in Alen Bum military stronghold in Laiza. It is expected to take a decision on whether KIO will accept the junta-proposed BGF or continue to reject it, said KIO officers in Laiza.

The KIO central committee meeting is being keenly watched by people in Kachin State and Burma related political societies at home and abroad.