Some of Myanmar’s political parties have proposed that the regime expand its Conscription Law and to encourage resistance fighters to reintegrate into the state, according to the junta.
Representatives from a working group of political parties, led by 88 Generation leader U Ko Ko Gyi, chair of the People’s Party, made the suggestion at the regime’s National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee led by Lieutenant General Tun Tun Naung in Naypyitaw on Thursday and Friday.
Dr Aye Maung, chair of the Arakan Front Party, Dr Aung Myat Oo of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and a representative of the National Unity Party also attended the meeting.
The suggestion for increasing recruitment comes as the regime is snatching men from their homes, streets and off buses to address its severe troop shortages.
The meeting discussed preparations for the junta’s proposed 2025 election, strategies for ensuring national stability and addressed public needs.
Myanmar’s junta activated forced conscription in February last year after suffering heavy defeats during Operation 1027 in northern Shan State.
The law requires men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve in the military for two to five years. The law has triggered an exodus from Myanmar, prompting the regime to prevent men aged 18 to 35 from leaving the country.
The junta has called up nine batches of conscripts, totaling over 30,000 men, since launching the conscription processes last March.
The junta is snatching healthy men across the country, bypassing the procedures outlined in the Conscription Law.
The regime is also recruiting nationals deported from Thailand and on Thursday tightened the conscription process.
