The biggest Kachin ceasefire group in northern Burma, Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has been imparted vote commission training for the countrywide constitutional referendum on May 10 in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State by the Burmese military junta, said KIO officials.
The one-day training was held in the building of the State Peace and Development Council (Pa-Ya-Ka) on April 26. Over 80 selected civilians from KIO controlled areas in Kachin State attended the training programme, said a KIO official in Laiza on the Sino-Burma border.
The participants were from the west, east and northern commands of KIO in Kachin State but not from the southern command in Northeast Shan State, the KIO official added.
According to the KIO's Department of General Administration (DGA), the training programme was especially designed for the KIO. U Maung Maung Win, the head of the vote commission of Kachin State and his colleagues undertook the demonstrations about polling stations and polling booths.
The KIO has agreed and guard polling stations in its controlled areas following the junta's request. However, the KIO has said that not all KIO servicemen and women will be involved in the referendum process, KIO leaders said.
Meanwhile the KIO has stepped up fresh recruitment in its military and it will not surrender weapons to the ruling junta after the referendum, Dr. Manam Tu Ja, Vice-President No. (2) recently told KNG.
On another front, government personnel in Myitkyina are being threatened with punishment by the authorities if they disapprove the new constitution drafted by the junta, local government personnel said.
The junta's Kachin State's commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint has issued a strong warning that if government personnel cast the 'No' vote in the referendum, he or she will be put in jail for seven years and fined 500,000 Kyat (est. US$ 628), the personnel said.
At the moment, the polling stations and ballot boxes are being prepared in not only the junta's controlled areas but also in the controlled areas of Kachin ceasefire groups--- KIO, New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group in Kachin State, said their sources.
Kachin News
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