Inexplicably, the Burmese military junta is making a list of ethnic Kachin church leaders and Kachin school teachers in all grades of  government schools in Bhamo (or Manmaw in Kachin) town in the country's northern Kachin State, said local Kachin sources.

A Kachin Baptist church preacher in Bhamo said, secret agents of the junta without disclosing their names and departments talked to Kachin church leaders over telephone. They have been listing the names of pastors or heads of all Kachin Christian churches of different denominations in Bhamo district since July.

Church leaders were not told why they are being documented by the military authorities of Bhamo.

In an unusual move, the military authorities have also listed ethnic Kachin school teachers in all government primary, middle, high school and universities and colleges in the town since July, said Kachin school teachers in Bhamo.

A school teacher told KNG today, both male and female Kachin school teachers are being listed with the names of their families by the staff of the Bhamo District Administrative Office (Kha-Ya-Ka). There are four high schools, four middle schools and dozens of primary schools in the town.

Kachin school teachers confirmed that the district military authorities are registering their names but they could not explain why only Kachin school teachers are being listed.

Besides, the authorities are also taking down names of officers of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) along with the list of their properties and business ventures in the district, said sources close to them.

There is palpable political and military tension between the junta and the KIO/KIA over the demands they have placed with each other. The junta has demanded that the KIO transform KIA to a battalion of the Border Guard Force (BGF) whereas the KIO wants it to change into a special Kachin Regional Guard Force (KRGF). It has also demanded KIO’s direct participation in the new Kachin State government after the 2010 elections.

Meanwhile, the junta's northern regional commander Maj-Gen Soe Win has met all Kachin church leaders twice in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State to persuade them to pressurize KIO to accept changing KIA to a battalion of the BGF.