The Burmese military junta has begun to arm twist afresh the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) by blocking all entry and exit points for traders, passengers and cars to KIO's key business centre on the Sino-Burma border in Northern Burma, sources close to KIO said.
According to local traders, the junta's Laja Yang Gate, the key gate which joins the Laiza, border business centre and the general headquarters of the KIO has been blocked since yesterday 5 p.m. local time by the Laja Yang Village based Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion N0. 437 led by commander Lt-Col. Aung Tin Soe.
Zau Awng, a villager from Laja Yang told KNG, "The Laja Yang Gate has been blocked by the Burma Army because the KIO is making a series of fresh recruitment into its military in the villages in Waingmaw Township."
At the moment, all passengers and cars from Waingmaw and Myitkyina Townships are being stopped in Gangdau Yang Village near Laja Yang Village, said people in Laiza and local traders.
This the first time, that the KIO is being pressurized by the junta since the KIO supported the junta's referendum on the draft constitution on May 10, sources close to KIO said.
At a time when the junta's seven-point roadmap to the so called "disciplined democracy" is on its way to conclusion, the KIO is silently on a drive to make its biggest new recruitment into its military, in areas it controls in Kachin State as well as Northeast Shan State, local sources said.
Recently, Dr. Manam Tu Ja, the KIO's Vice-president No. (2) and leader of KIO delegates to the junta's National Convention clarified that the KIO will not participate the junta's 2010 general election and not surrender its weapons.
However, the KIO firmly sticks to its stand on solving the problems between the KIO and ruling junta in a face-to-face political dialogue. The KIO will seek a political dialogue with a new Kachin State government which will be formed after the 2010 election, Dr. Tu Ja added.
The KIO being pressured by the junta is not an unusual phenomenon and the KIO's gold mines, logging fields and border trade were also blocked or disrupted by Burma's military in the past.
The KIO signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma's ruling junta on February 24, 1994 on the expectation of a resolution of problems by political means.
