The Kachin National Congress (KNC) party has said that it will form a committee to solve land disputes in Kachin State.

The KNC held a meeting at a hotel in the state capital of Myitkyina on October 10, forming a starting committee on the issue. After discussing it with politicians, legal experts, civil society and literature and culture representatives, the starting committee will then be upgraded into a permanent land dispute resolution committee.

“We have already invited them to attend the upcoming meeting. Then we will approve this committee. After that, we will start operating,” KNC spokesperson J. Lan Raw told NMG.

The Kachin State government has rented out land belonging to internally displaced people (IDPs) to companies that plant watermelons and tissue-culture bananas, according to the KNC.

“We are especially trying [to help] IDPs to get their land back. It’s our main objective,” J. Lan Raw told NMG.

There are an estimated 200,000 IDPs in Kachin State, many of whom now live in camps after fleeing armed conflict.

The KNC said that multiple points in the government’s land law also need to be amended so that the statute serves traditional land ownership of the people.