Domestic and international Kachin organizations established a coordination team to advocate on behalf of the Kachin people during military rule, according to the team’s spokesperson.

After Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing seized control of the country on February 1, Kachin Political Interim Coordination Team (KPICT) spokesperson N’san Gumsan told KNG that justice is determined by the “gun and the bullet”.

“If he (Min Aung Hlaing) doesn’t like a person, he will kill them. However, if he likes them, they’ll be appointed into the government. Since all old political systems in the Union have ended, it was time to start a new one.”

After discussions between Kachin organizations in Kachin and Shan states and abroad at the start of the month, KPICT was officially launched on March 15.

N’san Gumsan told KNG they won’t work directly with Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which was recently formed by elected lawmakers ousted during the coup. However, they will discuss with CRPH creating a “political situation” that Kachin nationalities want in Burma.

KPICT’s statement didn’t indicate which Kachin organizations have joined or how the team was established. N’san Gumsan said the other members will become public when the time is right.

KPICT’s formation comes after weeks of civil unrest in Kachin State, resulting in the death of several civilians at the hands of security forces and the resumption of conflict between Kachin Independence Organization/Army and Burma Army in Kachin State, uprooting over one hundred villagers, some of whom had only returned home after living in camps for years.