Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) patron Col. Khun Okkar confirmed to Mizzima the postponement of second 21st Panglong Conference scheduled to be held at the end of this month.
The meeting was postponed because they had to wait for the completion of the Chin State National Dialogue and a scheduled meeting between Union Peace Commission (UPC) led by Dr. Tin Myo Win and Northern Alliance.
Col. Khun Okkar said, “The meeting was postponed to March but the exact date is not yet available. The meeting will certainly be postponed because the national dialogues in ethnic states have been permitted to be held including in Chin State. The Chin will hold the national dialogue only after their Chin National Day which falls on February 20. So they cannot complete it in time before scheduled date at the end of this month.”
Chin State National Dialogue is scheduled to be held on February 23.
“In the meantime, there are many appointments and meetings. UPC will meet Northern Alliance and then they will meet with another group in Chiang Mai. However, it means they want to take more time for other organizations to prepare,” Col. Khun Okkar added.
The first meeting of 21st Panglong Conference was convened at the end of August 2016 and at the meeting held on February 6 in Naypyitaw, Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) agreed to convene the second conference on February 28.
In her address delivered at the 70th Union Day held in Panglong, southern Shan State on February 12, the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi urged ethnic armed organizations which had not yet signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) to sign this document with bravery and self-confidence and to join the 21st Panglong Conference.
