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TANINTHARYI DIVISION – Residents said that if the villagers in Kan Pauk want to travel to another area, they have to pay 10,000 Kyats to obtain a letter of testimony from the junta council appointed administration office.
Residents said that after February 10, when the coup leader announced the approval of the Militia Conscription Law, they have been traveling around with letters of testimony.
Although there is no official announcement from the village administration office of the junta council that they must travel only after completing the letter of endorsement, it is said that the households close to the office have been informed.
“One of his (administration officer) relatives said to obtain a letter of endorsement, so I went to do it. I can’t care that it costs ten thousand Kyats because I have to go through checkpoints to travel. Our safety is important,” said a 24-year-old village woman.
Those who cross the border from Kan Pauk have to pass two junta council checkpoints near the intersection of the Forestry Department Road and the entrance sign of Kan Pauk Village Tract.
Locals said that because of the news that they are allowed to travel only after acquiring the endorsement, there are people who travel after completing the endorsement but there are also those who do not get the letter.
“Most elders don’t bother (getting the letter). They only go get it if the young people go out. Since it’s only the young people who get abducted when something happens,” said a 28-year-old villager.
According to local residents, including those who have traveled without a document in recent days, they have not heard of any punishment to those who cross the border without a letter of endorsement.
Last year, if you were to transport rice from another district to the Kan Pauk area, you had to get an endorsement from the local police. A guest list is mandatory for visitors and a letter of endorsement is required for those traveling across the border, as often issued by the junta council.
In addition, the village of Kan Pauk is an area where riding motorcycles has been banned since January last year, when people known to be members of the junta council and members of the junta subordinate Pyu Saw Htee militia were shot. In Tanintharyi Division, there have been frequent orders issued that require the travelers to get a letter of endorsement from the administration office in the villages in Palaw Township and Kan Pauk Village of Yebyu Township.