Without addressing the political problems honestly through the country’s political framework, there will be no real internal peace, stated Karen National Union (KNU) Chairman Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win during his speech on the occasion of the 2764 Karen National New Year, celebrated on December 30.

The KNU Chairman highlighted that successive governments have suppressed and ruled without recognizing national equality or delivering justice, leading to prolonged conflicts among ethnic nationalities and between the ruling government and the people.

He further explained that despite efforts for the survival of the Karen people as a national race, the ruling powers have acted unfairly and oppressed weaker groups with weapons. This oppression, he noted, turned the Karen people’s national struggle into an armed revolution beginning in 1949, a conflict that persists to this day.

For national prosperity, peace, equality, and the establishment of a federal democratic union with the right to self-determination, the KNU has consistently advocated resolving internal conflicts and ethnic issues through dialogue and negotiation, rather than armed struggle. Throughout their revolutionary efforts, the KNU has collaborated with the Karen people, political parties, and ethnic armed organizations, the chairman added.

However, Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win emphasized that the country’s rulers have shown no genuine intention to resolve these issues through political means, underscoring the challenges to achieving lasting peace.