The countrywide referendum on the draft constitution of the Burmese military junta on May 10, 2008 has been politically supported by all Kachin ceasefire groups in Northern Burma, local sources said.

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and groups which  split like the New Democratic Army Kachin, NDA-K (former Communist Party of Burma's (CBP) Army Division 101), Kachin Defence Army (KDA) and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group instructed men and women in their fold to cast 'Yes' votes in the referendum, according to insiders.

Among them, the KDA led by former KIO's 4th Brigade commander Mahtu Naw is based in Kawng Hka near Kutkai Township in Northeast Shan State and the rest are based in Kachin State.

A short time ago, the mother organization KIO adopted a neutral stand on the referendum. However the KIO leaders finally ordered its men and women in the fold to cast 'Yes' ballots in the referendum, KIO officials said.

KIO officials in Laiza, its controlled area on the Sino-Burma border said, the KIO leaders finally yielded to pressure from the junta's Northern Command Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint for supporting the referendum to avoid fresh military tension between them.

The KIO also had to provide the costs for holding the referendum in its controlled areas around Kachin State as well as all the cost of the junta's immigration officers who arrived in KIO controlled areas for making temporary National Registration Cards for the recent referendum and elections in 2010, Laiza KIO sources said.

NDA-K's Reconstruction and Development Department Chairman, Mr. Yaw Bawm followed the voters and directed them to tick only the 'Right Mark' on ballot papers and put it into the boxes, voters in the areas said.

NDA-K sources said, the organization suggested to both civilians and men and women in uniform to cast 'Yes' votes in the referendum.

Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group led by Lasang Awng Wa was the last group to split from the KIO and it was threatened and told to tell the people to cast 'Yes' votes in the referendum in its controlled areas Gwi Htu which was granted by the ruling junta in 2004.

In Kachin State, Kachins criticized the Kachin ceasefire groups, "There is no unity among them but they united all the same while supporting the constitutional referendum drafted by the illegal government, the military junta."