June 11st, 2022
Locals staged a protest against the Forest Department’s plan to seize the public plantation areas in Hopang Township in northern Shan State, for the construction of the office of “Wa” Self-Administered Division.
Locals protested against it while the Forest Department prepared to measure the lands in Meinpanshan ward in Hopang Township on June 8th, a local man from Hopang told the Shan Herald News.
“We don’t accept the Forest Department’s plan to seize more than 30 acres of land on which we have been farming since our forefathers. This land space is aimed for the construction of Wa” Self-Administered Division. We oppose it as we have to rely on farming,” he told the Shan Herald News.
“We don’t accept the seizure of public lands. The forest department’s plan to seize lands is not for tree growing. The department may seize other lands if we cannot oppose it,” a local from Hopang Township.
There may be an organization behind the Forest Department, locals criticize.
“Hopang Township is not included in the areas controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA). It is under the control of the Wa Division government. So I don’t know it,” U Nyi Yan, Spokesperson of the UWSA told the Shan Herald News.
Officials of the Wa Division government are unavailable for comment.
Hopang Township is included in the territory of Wa Self-Administered Zone under the 2008 Constitution. Most of the locals are Shan races. They earn their living by growing corn, beans and sugarcane.
If the department’s seizure of land materializes, the locals will lose their lands. It may hamper their livelihood and economy in the future, according to locals.
Sent by Shan Herald News