The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Kachin’s main ceasefire group, is reluctant to react to the raid conducted on the homes of its officials on Saturday night in two major cities of Kachin State in Northern Burma, Myitkyina and Bhamo by junta soldiers and the military intelligence. All illegal Chinese wireless landline phones were seized during the raid, the KIO officials said.

At the moment, most KIO senior officials do not have access to telephones in their homes and offices. They have been avoiding the media. They have not lodged a complaint with the junta authorities regarding the Saturday raid, according to local sources close to KIO leaders.

KIO leaders have reasons for not making a complaint to the junta because they have luxurious houses and private businesses in the junta’s controlled areas of Kachin State and other major cities in Burma, said a member of Kachin State National Congress for Democracy (KNCD) in Myitkyina.

“This raid reveals how far the junta can pressurize the KIO now.  The KIO also would like to avoid fresh military and economic sanctions imposed by the junta,” he added.

“The junta’s troops seized our Chinese phones in liaison offices and officials’ homes.  This is aimed to pressurize us to protest against Aung San Suu Kyi’s November 8, statement,” a KIO central committee member in Laiza controlled area on the Sino-Burma border told KNG yesterday.

However, the KIO will not release any statement either supporting or protesting against the recent statement by Burma’s National League for Democracy (NLD)’s general secretary, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s, KIO leaders said.

Meanwhile, the joint Burmese military operations by the  Waingmaw based No. 58 Infantry Battalion and Shwenyaungbin based No. 321 Light Infantry Battalion are underway in gold mines along Namsan River in Namsanyang village. These are semi-owned by KIO and lie on the Myitkyina-Bhamo road.  The gold miners are forcibly made to work by Burmese soldiers, said local gold miners.

On the other hand, the other Kachin permanent ceasefire groups- Northeast Shan State based Kachin Defense Army (KDA), KIO split group the Lasang Awng Wa Ceasefire Group and New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) in Kachin State issued a statement last week opposing Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement, according to junta-run newspaper the “New Light of Myanmar”.

Last Saturday between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time, for the first time in 13 years of ceasefire, the KIO’s junior and senior officials’ homes, liaison offices in Myitkyina and Bhamo including KIO vice-president N’ban La Awng house in Shatapru quarter in Myitkyina were raided. All illegal Chinese landline phones by were seized on the orders of Kachin State Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, according to KIO sources and eyewitnesses.