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Kayin State

State of Myanmar

  • 8 min read
  • 9 chapters

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The terrain of the state is mountainous, with the Dawna Range running along the state in a NNW–SSE direction, and the southern end of the Karen Hills in the northwest. It is bordered by the Mae Hong Son, Tak, and Kanchanaburi provinces of Thailand to the east; Mon State and Bago Region to the west and south; and Mandalay Region, Shan State and Kayah State to the north.

History

The region that forms today's Karen State was part of successive Burmese kingdoms since the formation of the Bagan Empire in the mid-11th century. During the 13th to 16th centuries, much of the region belonged to the Hanthawaddy kingdom, while the northern part of the region belonged to Taungoo (a vassal state of Ava Kingdom). The region became part of Taungoo Dynasty and Konbaung Dynasty, from 16th to the 19th centuries. The British seized the southern third of today's Karen State (below the Salween River), after the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826), and the rest after the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852.

Towards the end of the British colonial era (1945-1948), the Karen leadership insisted on a separate state covering today's Karen State, much of Mon State and Taninthayi Region, within the British Empire. They refused to sign the Panglong Agreement of February 1947, which was the basis for the 1947 Constitution of Burma, and boycotted the pre-independence elections of April 1947. Nonetheless, the constitution granted the Karen a state, though with an area less than what the Karen leadership had asked for from the British. The constitution also guaranteed states the right to secede from the Union after a period of 10 years. (The Panglong Agreement gave only the Shan and the Kachin a state each; the Chin who actually signed the agreement did not receive a state.) The Karen National Union (KNU), which dominated the Karen leadership, was not satisfied and wanted outright independence. In 1949, the KNU raised a rebellion that continues up to today. The KNU celebrates January 31 as 'revolution day', marking the day they went underground at the battle of Insein.

Much of the state has been a battlefield since then. The civilians have taken the brunt of the war. The KNU today forms the world's longest-running resistance. The military government changed the English name of the state to Kayin State from Karen State in 1989.

Since 1976 the KNU has called for a federal system rather than an independent Karen State. In January 2012, Myanmar's military-backed civilian government signed a ceasefire deal with the KNU in Hpa-an, the capital of eastern Kayin State. Aung Min, the Railway Minister, and General Saw Chee Tik of the KNU led the peace talks.

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