Myanmar’s oldest ethnic rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU), has condemned the junta’s enforcement of the conscription law, saying it will draw the entire country deeper into war and perpetuate the military dictatorship.
At the same time, however, an ethnic Shan armed group that signed the National Ceasefire Agreement with the regime, announced that it will get tougher on anyone who evades conscription in the territory it controls by traveling abroad, saying it will seize their property.
Conscription shock
The military regime enforced the conscription law on Feb. 10 amid repeated, humiliating defeats on the battlefield. It has lost thousands of troops, major bases as well as large swathes of territory across the country,
The law allows the military to summon all men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 to serve in the military for two to five years. The age limit rises to 45 for men and 35 for women if they have professional skills like medical or engineering.
Evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison.
The law’s activation has shocked people and forced young people to leave the country.
Call for defiance
In its statement on Monday, the KNU said the regime does not have the authority to enforce the law because its aim is to protect the country from foreign invasion and to provide national reconstruction after natural disasters.
The KNU urged the entire population of the country, especially the young generation, to oppose the law by political defiance or joining anti-regime resistance organizations.
“[The law] was illegally declared by the junta’s military council. People do not need to comply with illegal laws. The junta’s forced recruitment is drawing the younger generation and labor resources into the mire of war,” the KNU said
The KNU also warned those who collaborate with the regime to take responsibility for the political, social, and economic consequences of the implementation of the conscription law.
Eradication of the military dictatorship is the only way to eliminate the regime’s oppression as well as its effort to draw the entire country into war, the KNU said.
“Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing knows there will be bigger problems if he enacts this law. But there are already many unsolved problems. He enforced this law as he had no other options because no one wanted to join his armed forces,” Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the spokesman of KNU told The Irrawaddy.
Since the regime killed hundreds of peaceful anti-coup demonstrators in 2021, the KNU has sheltered several thousand people fleeing junta arrests. It has also provided military training and weapons for several thousand anti-regime activists so that they can fight the junta.
The KNU’s armed wings – the Karen National Liberation Army and Karen National Defense Organization – are fighting the junta in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions alongside People’s Defense Forces, the armed wing of the civilian National Unity Government.
Shan conscription
The Restoration Council of Shan State/ Shan State Army-South said on Monday that everyone aged 18-45 living in territory it controls must serve in its army for six years to protect Shan State and its people.
The ethnic armed group also warned Shan people living abroad to return home to serve in its military, saying it will seize the property and farmland of those who left Shan State to avoid serving in its army.
The ethnic armed group is among 10 that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the regime military. It also attended peace talks held by junta boss Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw following the 2021 military coup.
Among the NCA’s 10 signatories, the Pa-O National Liberation Army is now fighting the junta. A splinter group of the New Mon State Party recently announced it will join the war against the junta.
