Karenni people descended from Mongolia plateau and settled in Demawsoe plain then established Karenni State in about 739 BC. From then on, they elected their own chief to rule the country. Soon afterward, a Yuan feudal king from the north invaded Karenni and oppressed the Karenni people as slaves for almost a hundred years. At last, Karenni people united and expelled the Yuan feudal king from Karenni and continued to live under the rule of their elected chief as before.
Even though Karenni is a small country co-inhabited by ethnic peoples, who share the same culture, it is full of rich natural resources and the country would be prosperous and developed if free to extract and use its resources.
In 1857 the British government representative Lord Dalhosei recognized Karenni independence and signed a friendship agreement with Karenni in 1862. Moreover, the representatives of British governor and Burmese king signed an agreement on June 21, 1875in recognition of Karenni independence. Even when the British took control of the whole Burma, Karenni still remain a free state outside the British's occupation. In 1873 AD, Eastern Karenni and the king of Chiang Mai established a bilateral friendship, repeating an oath of allegiance by sharing the yeast mixed with buffalo's blood to ensure the long-lasting friendship between the two kingdoms. On the following days, the king of Chiang Mai's brother married the daughter of the Eastern Karenni chief.
Even though the Karenni administration was divided up into sub-states under the direct rule of their own chief, matters relating to the entire country were solved by the state chiefs and people representatives through the negotiation. On September 11, 1946 the United Karenni Independence States Council was formed to oversee the functioning of the whole administration and strived to draw up a constitution for Karenni.
On December 24, 1946 the Anti-Facist and People Freedom Leage's (AFPFL) leader Aung San visited Loikaw to persuade the Karenni people to join hands with upcoming independent Burma by saying "the independence of Karenni is only on paper and it's not free in practice. We don't mean to drive the foreigners out and replace them with Burman shere. You can retain your own rights to administer your affairs as it is. We won't interfere in your affairs. We don't want to be the slaves of the English and neithter do you. We are thesame and we must be equal to one another."
After the end of WW II, the AFPFL led by Aung San met with the Frontier Areas Administrative Board and signed the Panglong Agreement at Panglong town, Southern Shan State to cooperate for independence while the Burmans were striving for independence from the British. Even thought the Karenni leaders were invited by Shan chiefs to the Panglong conference, no representative was sent or signed the agreement. As a result of the Panglong agreement, the People’s Assembly was convened in 1947 in Rangoon and prepared to draw up a draft constitution. No representative of Karenni was sent to the assembly, but Karenni State was put into the drafted constitution's article 180(a) to be a special region of the newly formed Karen State. This was done unfairly without the knowledge of the Karenni people. On viewing these historical events, it's extremely clear that Karenni was never a part of Burma.
Nevertheless, seven months after Burma gained independence on August 9, the AFPFL government sent its military police to attack the Karenni National Organization's headquarters at Myaleh and in order to defend her independence, the Karenni national movement began. From then on, the movement has modified into a national resistance movement on the grounds of her independence, which has lasted for over 50 years of armed struggle. Even so, due to the changing world politics, we believe that together with other ethnic nationalities (including Burman), establishing a genuine federal union on the principles of equality, mutual recognition, self-determination and democracy, for the well-being and common interest of all would be more beneficiary.
No comments:
Post a Comment