Nai Aung MaGay, of New Mon State Party’s Central Executive Committee
We will continue to walk on the NCA path. There are a lot of details regarding the NCA. These include military, politics and social matters. We decided to continue along the NCA path. Yet, at the moment, we have put it on hold regarding the political meetings for the implementation of the NCA . But when an individual party has a bilateral talk, they will uphold their party’s stand. The PPST [Peace Process Steering Team] has nothing to object to. That is their party’s stand and they have laid it down so.
Padoh Saw Taw Nee,of Karen National Union’s Foreign Affairs
It is very clear for the KNU as has been released in a statement — the NCA is a paper/agreement. But with this situation, it is nothing. NCA is a piece of paper, and by essence, it is political talk. But for the political talk, it must have justice. We were guaranteed a federal democracy. That is all. It will have the meaning of not having violence. But when it is implemented in reality, no one wants to do a single thing. That is the problem. The agreement is the agreement. It’s like the Panglong agreement. It is not broken. But it is just not being implemented. We KNU are very clear. With this situation, there is no way to have the talks. One day, there will be political talk. But with the current military, with its current form, it is totally not working.
With this situation, there is no way to continue it. There is the NCA. The nature of NCA and its essence; these are not damaged yet. It is just that they haven’t implemented it yet. If the talks are really to be held, we actually sent a letter to Min Aung Hlaing on March 22. If accepted as in the letter, we would be receptive to talks. But in the letter, we requested 8 points. If these points are accepted and respected, there was nothing that we did not have the talk. To solve the conflicts in this country, it’s necessary to hold talks.
There is nothing other than that. In the statement, yes, there is the word of NCA. However, the NCA that we are talking about in this situation, –there is no way to continue.
Colonel Khun Okkar, of the Pa O National Liberation Organization (PNLO)
It is as in the original way regarding the NCA. It is the organization’s basic standards and they will walk on. The majority of the signatories (EAO’s) but not all of the 10 groups are together. It may be like 8 groups that will be all together but other 2 groups may have different perspectives. So, that is how it is now.
No one is holding any talks/meetings. This is because it does not meet the criteria of having a talk yet. Before, when the talks were held, the government was elected by the people. And the Hluttaw representatives were elected by the people. So, the Hluttaw and the government. But now, there is no one who is elected. So, it does not work to talk with only the military. Also, since the military has taken power, there is no forum for having NCA talks. But we should design a way that we can have the talks systematically. No one throws away the peace process. This process is still to be continued.
Since the introduction of the NCA, we have vowed to collaborate until peace succeeds. We should keep it. The NCA road is not successful yet. We have a lot to do. We want to have it continued. We do not want to be the ones who damage it or break it. We will continue per the NCA’s objective. It is as simple as keeping the promise. It is not like being attached to it, but we people must maintain and keep it after we make the promise. Those who do not want to keep it can leave, but those who want to keep it will continue. We will continue working toward having the NCA roadmap successful.
