Pa-O National Army (PNA) is forcibly arming residents who have not received military training and sending them to the front line in Pinlaung Township of Shan State, according to local residents.
The PNA is equipping not only the residents who have completed military training but also those who have not received military training, with military uniforms and arms. On 11 March, they were sent to the frontline area on the Pekon-Pinlaung border, said a local from Pinlaung Township.
“Locals are told to join the army with a quota of one person per house. The recruitments are being made on an alternate basis. Locals can’t avoid it. We have not attended military training yet. How can we hold guns and shoot?” locals said.
Currently, local youths who do not want to go to the front lines are fleeing to other townships. Since 10 March, the military council troops stationed in Nampharhmu village in Pinlaung Township and the pro-military PNA have clashed with revolutionary forces and the PNLA (The Pa-O National Liberation Arm). Following the clash, the PNA issued an order to send locals to the front lines.
On 4 February, 12 men in their 30s who came to the Aung Su Bway camp in the west of Hsihseng Township to quit drugs, were shot dead by the military council forces when they refused to serve in the front line, according to local residents.
The PNA has increased the collection of extortion money from Ks-100,000 to Ks-1,000,000 from local residents in its controlled territories as it faces a decline in strength and funds, according to local residents.
Sent by Shan News