Around 60 villagers from Hsi Hseng Township in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) in southern Shan State were arrested by the Myanmar junta’s military and allied Pa-O National Army (PNA) troops on Monday, according to the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA).
A total of 59 residents of Yay Phyu Village were arrested upon returning to the village from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in a nearby forest, after being ordered to return by military and PNA troops.
Yay Phyu comprises almost 400 households and has a population of over 2,000.
According to a PNLA statement released on Wednesday, the junta and PNA troops threatened to burn down the entire village if the residents did not return to Yay Phyu, but when they did return, they were promptly arrested.
The junta troops detained the villagers—over half of whom were women over the age of 40—at the Yay Phyu Village hall, it said.
Many civilians in the Pa-O SAZ have fled their homes into forests and other places to escape the military regime’s indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling of residential areas since fighting broke out between regime troops and the PNLA in January in Sam Hpu Village in Shan State’s Hopong Township.
However, junta and PNA troops frequently force civilians to return home amid ongoing clashes to pick up food and other supplies for their forces from villages in Pa-O SAZ townships including Hsi Hseng.
In some villages, residents are told they will have to pay a fine of around US$140 if they do not return home, and the PNA has threatened to confiscate their homes if they refuse to go, a Pa-O source said.
In April, two children were seriously injured by landmines in Kaung Mu Bwar Village, Hsi Hseng Township after villagers were forced to return home.
PNLA spokesperson Khun Rain Yam told The Irrawaddy the Yay Phyu detainees are still being held.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety of the villagers. Military forces are constantly committing mass killings across the country. Words cannot describe how brutal they are. They always act like terrorists,” the spokesperson added.
According to the Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO), as of June 8, about 53,400 people had been displaced by fighting in the Pa-O SAZ since the fighting broke out on Jan. 21.
In that period of just over four months, the military junta launched 463 airstrikes and 3,538 shelling attacks, killing 77 civilians and injuring 101 in the SAZ. The death toll includes 11 children. The regime attacks on civilian targets that killed the 11 children occurred in the absence of any ground clashes, the PYO said.
Regime and PNA attacks in the period destroyed 708 buildings including schools, hospitals, clinics, and religious buildings, it said.
