SHAN STATE – Villagers said that the military council and its subordinate Pa’O Militia – PNA/PNO are forcibly recruiting recruits at the rate of five men per village in Sangaw Village Tract, Hopong Township, Pa’O Autonomous Region, Southern Shan State.
The forced recruitment started on January 27, and happened in all 32 villages of Sangaw Village Tract, said a villager.
“It is not for fighting but to patrol for security. It came with orders and we can’t refuse. It is the decision of the relevant village administrator’s meeting,” he said.
The PNO instructed that as there are 32 villages, up to 160 men must participate, and all except students in basic education have to participate.
According to the locals, the parents of the selected youths are worried because even though the military council and the PNO have only assigned them to patrol, they were told that they will be asked to go to the frontline if there is an emergency.
A resident of Hopong said that the PNO forcibly recruiting soldiers and making military preparations have not yet reached the town of Hopong, but they have already started in the villages.
“I haven’t heard of that in the city, only in the village. The war is already underway in Hopong. Bunkers have been built and cannons have been directed,” he said.
In some neighborhoods of Hsihseng City, the PNO militia is forcibly collecting four soldiers per neighborhood and collecting 100,000 MMK per house as military expenses.