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A demonstration against the Kachin Independence Army’s alleged killing of Lisu civilians has shone a light on communal relations in Kachin State in the shadow of civil war.
A former spokesperson of Christian anti-drug movement Pat Jasan, Nhkum Tang Gun, now directs the youth department of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, also known as Wa Ma Ra. He spoke to Frontier about Pat Jasan, whose vigilante methods are controversial but continue to enjoy local backing due to the havoc drugs have wreaked on Kachin communities.
Millions of dollars in American aid have been pledged to fund “locally-driven” solutions to rampant drug addiction in Kachin, where local church-backed groups have so far led the response, sometimes taking the law into their own hands.
