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Starting last week in Taunggyi, the military junta council has begun training neighborhood administrators on the pretext that they need to protect themselves. This information comes from close contacts within the general administrative department.
The training will take place at Unit 357 in White Pagoda Ward, Taunggyi, for two weeks. After the completion of the training, neighborhood administrators will be officially granted permission to carry firearms.
A resident in Taunggyi Lamadaw Ward said, ‘Today, when I went to the ward office, there were no administrators; they were attending military junta training. After this, they will be given guns. It seems that other neighborhood heads are also included.’
Although there has been no official statement from the military junta council regarding the training of the administrators, it is understood that neighborhood and village administrators across the region could also be involved.
A close associate of the household head said, ‘The neighborhood heads are also under pressure. If they act, they fear the PDF (People’s Defense Forces); if they do not, they fear the military junta council. It’s impossible to resign at this point; they are living in fear of the nearby knife. Nobody wants to attend this military junta training. After the neighborhood heads, it will be the household heads’ turn.’
Since the coup in mid-2021, U Than Shwe, the neighborhood administrator from Shwe Taung Ward in Taunggyi, was one of the first to be allowed by the military junta council to carry a firearm. His false reporting led to the arrest of no less than 60 individuals in Taunggyi.