They don’t need to abandon arms for the internal peace initiated in former President Thein Sein’s era, stated Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) in its formal letter, which was sent to mark 73rd Anniversary of Shan State Day on February 7.

The 73rd Anniversary of Shan State Day was held at ‎Loi Tai Leng, Headquarter of Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) in Myanmar-Thailand border.

“We had signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) to build a democratic federal union through political talks,” it said.

It said some facts included in the NCA may make misunderstanding and it may lead to challenges. Informal discussions may bring close understanding and overcome the challenges.

It said the RCSS is taking a leadership role in the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) and the RCSS can implement a treaty like the Panglong Agreement.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services said ethnic armed groups need to abandon arms to build eternal peace through discussions in line with democracy.

Moreover any attempt to make unilateral demands by holding arms in the name of peace talks is not in accorded with democracy and it will not be reached to federal and democracy goals desired by ethnics and the world will not be accepted it, stated the senior general in a formal letter sent to mark the 73rd Anniversary of Shan State Day.