Pre-election campaign has been kick started by the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP) led by former leaders of Kachin ceasefire groups' in Burma's northern Kachin State, said local sources.
KSPP's pre-election campaign is underway in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State and Bhamo (also spelled Manmaw in Kachin), the second largest city in the State, according to residents of the two cities.
Since last week, party members have been meeting Kachin people in different villages in Myitkyina district, said a Kachin politician.
Dr. Ju Ja, former KIO's Vice-president No. 2 and leader of KSPP
Another group of party members are mobilising Kachin people in Bhamo district since October 22. Campaign is now underway in different towns in the districts like Manje (also spelled Mansi in Burmese) and N'Mawk (also spelled Momauk in Burmese), said local residents.
In the Bhamo campaign, party organizational workers are being questioned by some Kachin community leaders on the party contesting the 2010 elections based on the contentious new constitution drafted on the junta's whims, said Bhamo's Kachin community sources.
Dr. Manam Tu Ja, former Vice-president No. 2 of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), who was dismissed from the organization on September 2, leads the KSPP, which was formed early this year for contesting the 2010 elections under the aegis of the Kachin State Interim Committee (KSIC). The junta is yet to set a date for the polls.
The KSIC is also chaired by Dr. Tu Ja and it was formed on June 20, 2008 with the backing of the two main Kachin ceasefire groups--- KIO and the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and the Myitkyina-based Kachin Nationals Consultative Assembly (KNCA), the forum for all Kachin people in Burma.
So far the KSPP is not an official political party. It will register with the junta when it authorizes new parties to contest the countrywide elections next year, party leader Dr. Tu Ja recently told KNG.
Currently, the KSPP is mainly composed with retired KIO and NDA-K officers, some KNCA members and individuals and has around 100 members, according to party sources.
Meanwhile, the KIO, the last remaining Kachin ceasefire group, which has rejected the junta’s proposed Border Guard Force, sent its last demand early this month to the junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe on transformation of its armed wing.
The KIO's demanded that it would surrender its weapons without the necessity of transforming to the BGF if the junta accepts and implements the Panglong Agreement signed on February 12, 1947 before Burma’s independence, between Burman leader Gen Aung San and ethnic leaders from Shan, Kachin and Chin as the historic Union of Burma was formed together.
