Shan State Army pays tribute to late King

General Sao Yawd Serk assigned his deputy commander to preside over the ceremony on their military base at Doi Tai Lang in Shan State in Myanmar, opposite to Mae Hong Son’s Pang Ma Pha district.
More than 1,000 SSA officers and their family members joined in the flower laying ritual.
The armed former insurgent group in Myanmar expressed high respect for HM the Late King. Their population of around 15,000 live in Shan State’s several villages and districts.
The group has negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government, but still maintains military operations on the Doi.
In nearby Mae Hong Son province of Thailand, up to 5,000 Mae Hong Son residents travelled to the Muang Mae Hong Son Municipality Stadium to lay sandalwood flowers before the replica of the Royal Crematorium to pay respects to HM the late King.
They passed through security screens set up around the ceremony ground to ensure public safety. 
On the Western front, in Myamar’s Dawei, the Karen National Union (KNU) also laid sandalwood flowers before the late King’s portrait to pay tribute.
Pa Daw Shapito, governor of the KNU’s Mergui/Dawei District, presided over the ceremony held at the city hall.
Pa Daw Shapito said Karen people felt gratitude to HM the late King, who was kind to them and their refugee fellows who fled to Thailand following past conflicts in Myanmar.
They wished to hold the ceremony to pay respects to him for one last time, he said.
The 1947-founded KNU is one of the major ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, It has fought a civil war for greater autonomy against the government for more than 60 years.