In response to charges by Naypyitaw’s information minister Kyaw Hsan on 12 August, the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) issued a statement yesterday urging all parties concerned to revive the Panglong Agreement signed in 1947, between the Burmese leader Aung San and leaders of the (then known as) Frontier Areas.
“Armed conflicts emerged due to successive Burmese governments’ Greater Nation Chauvinism, injustices and violations of the terms of the Panglong Agreement,” it reads. “Instead of regarding ethnic peoples as enemies and accusing them as subversive elements, it’s high time national reconciliation was being forget by the present authorities on the basis of equality, justice and the Panglong Agreement.”
The Panglong Agreement highlighted total autonomy in internal affairs, democracy and human rights for the peoples of the Frontier Areas.
U Kyaw Hsan, during the 12 August press conference, had charged the SSA (Yawdserk), as the RCSS/SSA is known by Naypyitaw, to differentiate it from the other SSA led by Maj Gen Pang Fa, designated by Naypyitaw as SSA (Wanhai), as “committing destructive acts” especially the bombings in Naypyitaw, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin on 24 June.
“This is sheer fabrication to defame the RCSS/SSA,” counters the statement. “If the RCSS/SSA really wanted destruction, it could have done more widely and on a larger scale.”
Following the bombings, Nyan Win, National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman, commented that they might effect Aung San Suu Kyi’s countrywide tour plan.
U Kyaw Hsan, in his first press conference as leader of the newly formed Spokespersons and Information Team, also attacked the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)’s Saw Labwe breakaway group and the Shan Stae Progress Party / Shan Sate Army (SSPP/SSA).
The KIO also derided Kyaw Hsan’s statement as “rootless” and “nonsense”, reported Irrawaddy.
