An interview with Yebaw Lauk Pang of the People’s Defense Force – Pekon
October 25, 2022
In this interview, Yebaw Lauk Pang was asked to share about the situation of the armed conflict in Pekon Township, Shan State, and the People’s Defense Force – Pekon more than a year after the military coup.
Q: When did the fighting in Pekon Township begin after the military took power?
A: The fighting in Pekon started from the beginning of the strikes. After the strikes started, we attacked as much as we could and laid mines in June. In May and June, we started attacking [junta soldiers] with Tumee rifles. Sometimes we’d wait somewhere and ambush them.
Q: How many airstrikes did the military council in Pekon carry out during the fighting?
A: There were only two airstrikes in Pekon. The military council has mainly carried out airstrikes in the Mobye area so far. They’ve used aircraft since the battle of Wary Supalaing in Moebye until now.
Q: How long has it been since the fighting in Pekon calmed down?
A: From September 8 to 11, there was heavy fighting. We’d a lot of success then. There has been no exchange of fire between the two sides in Pekon this month. It was pretty quiet in the area. But they’ve started firing heavy weapons at Pekon again. And there’s news that [the military council] is preparing to carry out offensives in the east of the township.
Q: In which places has the military council fired indiscriminately with heavy weapons?
A: They’ve been firing with heavy weapons. Every time we opened fire on their place, they didn’t fire at our places. They never fired at our camps. But they always fired at the Catholic church in Pekon. And there are small villages outside the town. They also shot at these villages. They don’t shoot at places where there’s fighting. They shoot with their guns as if to threaten people. Once their artillery shells fell into the pond.
Q: Why do you think the military council continues to shoot heavy weapons indiscriminately?
A: I think it’s their way of threatening or their strategy. They tend to shoot at the villages with heavy weapons to threaten if something happens. They’ve also used people as human shields and fired heavy weapons at villages at night.
Q: How did the PDF respond to the military council troops firing unilaterally?
A: We didn’t respond. We didn’t respond when they fired heavy weapons unprovoked. We remained as we were.
Q: Why are you not responding?
A: We don’t have heavy weapons with which to fire back at their army. Our place is quite far from downtown Pekon. If our bullets hit something or fall into their military area, they’ll surely shoot back at the surrounding villages with heavy weapons. That’s how they do it. So it’s very difficult for us to get into a fight with them. We’ve to choose not to do so.
Q: How many PDF members have died since the military coup in Pekon? How many have been injured?
A: As far as I know, more than 20 members have died and more than 50 have been injured in the fighting in Pekon Township. Most of those killed are KNDF members.
Q: Why were there many casualties in the fighting in Pekon?
A: In Pekon, we don’t have places safe enough to take cover. In comparison, the Mobye area is in a better position. There are houses, hills and creeks there. But in Pekon, there’s only one mountain. And there are no hills in the surrounding areas. It’s more of a flat land. If we’re attacked with heavy weapons, we’ve no place to hide. That’s why it’s hard for us to go into battle here.
Q: Who do you receive the most donations from these days?
A: Our main donors are the people. We raise money for our own battalion. We don’t have any connection with the National Unity Government (NUG) to get money. We make contacts with our friends. With the donations we receive, we buy weapons and ammunition.
Q: In some other areas, there are cases of PDF members murdering people by claiming they’re informants for the military. What do you say about this?
A: We detain military informants when we find them. And we hand them over to the people most involved for interrogation. We don’t arrest anyone unless they’re a military informant. We arrest them only when we get concrete information about them. We attack their houses with mines. That’s what we’ve done so far. Some PDF members are shooting people wrongly. But we’ve not heard that they’ve arrested anyone unjustly.
Q: Since the fighting in Pekon has calmed down, have the people who fled the war returned?
A: Many of them have returned to Pekon. But some of them still can’t return to the east bank because junta troops are still stationed there. And some of the villages have been burned down. Some people from the east bank have also sought refuge on the west bank.
Q: What security measures have been taken for the returning IDPs?
A: As for the safety of their lives, we’ve not prepared anything yet. Some civilians are very brave, they say. Some of them hide in the houses where there’s fighting nearby. Usually they come out when the fighting is over and their stores reopen. If they’re hit by a gun, all you can say is that this is their fate. We don’t provide security for their lives. We’ve not done that in the past either. They leave or return to their homes if they want to.
Q: What else would you like to add?
A: We cannot intervene in the fighting right now. Almost all battalions are currently short of firepower and we’ve received very little support. We can’t conduct offensives like we used to. We can only participate in defensive battles. We’ll fire if they advance to our fortress. But we cannot go near their base and attack them. Almost every battalion faces this problem. We’re in dire need of ammunition. Now we’ve to defend ourselves with what we’ve.
Sent by Shan Herald.