Kachin Wave News is reporting that Pat Jasan, the Christian anti-drug enforcers intent on destroying poppy fields used to make opium, have won their standoff with the military and other local authorities.
Well, they sort of won.
After several meetings, the group has apparently agreed to go with the authorities to continue their mission as a security measure. This was something the group had expressly opposed before.
The weeklong standoff purportedly started because the military feared clashes between growers and Pat Jasan, a powerful group founded by the Kachin Baptist Convention and dedicated to eradicating the scourge of drug abuse in the northernmost state.
Myanmar is the second-largest producer of opium in the world; only Afghanistan produces more.
The authorities intervened on February 16th. Tensions escalated after a journalist with the Kachin Baptist Convention was allegedly punched by a member of the military trying to get him to delete photos he had taken.
