The pro-regime Pa-O National Army (PNA) has ramped up forced civilian recruitment for militia groups in areas it controls in southern Shan State following the junta’s activation of national conscription.
A resident of Hsi Hseng Township, which is in PNA territory, said forcible recruitment by the armed group has increased since the junta enforced the People’s Military Service Law on February 10.
The PNA and its leader Aung Kham Hti signed a ceasefire deal with the previous military regime and transformed into a political party with a militia responsible for governing the Pa-O self-administered zone, comprising Hopong, Hsi Hseng and Panlong townships.
Aung Kham Hti is close to former dictator Than Shwe and current junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
A Hsi Hseng resident said the PNA is forcibly recruiting around five civilians per 100 residents of villages in areas under its control.
But unlike the junta’s military service law, which covers all men aged 18 to 45 and all women aged 18 to 35, the PNA has set no age range for recruits, the resident added.
In Aung Kham Hti’s home village of Kyauk Ta Lone, young civilian recruits are reportedly granted leave to care for sick elderly relatives – but only if they find a replacement or pay a fee.
About 80 percent of the young population have left Pa-O autonomous region due to political and economic turmoil, the resident told the Irrawaddy.
“Only students and youths who are taking care of elderly family members remain. The PNA recruits them. Residents who refuse to join the militia must pay whatever the PNA asks for. In some villages, people have to pay about 700,000 kyat [about US$ 330] per person. If two men in a household refuse to join the militia, they have to pay double,” he said.
The PNA is recruiting mainly Pa-O people rather than the Shan, Burmese, and Karenni communities in its territory. It prefers to target Shan residents for financial exploitation, the resident said.
The group has been recruiting civilians since anti-regime ethnic forces launched Operation 1111 in neighboring Karenni (Kayah) State in November. However, recruitment efforts rose when the fighting spread to Hsi Hseng in late January, he added.
Fighting erupted between the PNA and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization/Army (PNLO/A) in Sam Hpu village, Hopong township, when junta soldiers attempted to seize arms and ammunition from a PNLO convoy on Jan. 22.
PNA and junta troops have been battling with the PNLA and joint resistance forces in Pa-O autonomous region ever since.