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Pa-O residents say a military-aligned militia is more and more counting on obligatory conscription and extortion to construct up its forces as Myanmar’s post-coup battle penetrates deeper into southern Shan State.
By FRONTIER
About 500 younger women and men in navy uniforms marched in formation, weapons in hand, chanting slogans within the Pa-O language. Up on a stage, officers seemed down on the parade.
The video posted to Fb confirmed the newest commencement ceremony of the Pa-O Nationwide Military, armed wing of the Pa-O Nationwide Organisation, which has been allied intently with the Myanmar navy since each side signed a ceasefire in 1991. The occasion came about on February 10 within the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone of southern Shan State, the place the PNO maintains tight management.
Residents say this was the seventh such ceremony since Might final yr, with 4,000 new recruits skilled in that point. Nonetheless, they alleged that these within the parade weren’t collaborating out of fervent Pa-O nationalism however as a result of that they had been forcibly recruited from inside the Pa-O SAZ townships of Hopong, Pinlaung and Hsi Hseng, in addition to areas of neighbouring townships like Taunggyi and Nyaung Shwe which have giant Pa-O populations.
“At first we heard they collected folks from Pinlaung and Taunggyi townships. Then our village head instructed us the PNO had instructed him to ship residents for navy coaching,” mentioned Ko Tun Zaw*, a 28-year-old who fled his household farm in Hopong Township final yr to keep away from recruitment. “He mentioned folks underneath the age of 35 needed to attend the coaching. If I had stayed at residence, I might absolutely have needed to go.”
Three days after the go to from the village headman, Tun Zaw escaped to Taungoo Township in jap Bago Area. There he works at a buddy’s store whereas planning to maneuver to Thailand, as a result of he’s nonetheless too scared to go residence. He mentioned his mother and father needed to pay a one-time price of K30,000 (round U$15) and a sack of rice to the PNO.
“Most of them don’t wish to attend navy coaching,” mentioned Ma Poe Chi*, an NGO employee and Hopong resident. “They need to do it as a result of the PNO compelled them.”
She mentioned the PNO has escalated its apply of compelled recruiting and tax assortment in its territory since July final yr, sometimes demanding K30,000 and a younger male from every household.
PNO officers acknowledged they’re enlisting troopers and accumulating taxes however denied this was tantamount to compelled recruitment, arguing that the recruitment drive was mandatory to supply safety for Pa-O villages amid a rising civil battle.
“At first, troopers had been recruited from the villages. Now we’re asking individuals who use medication to take a navy fight coaching course to assist them get clear,” mentioned Ta Khok Kham, a PNO member in Hopong.
After the February 2021 coup and violent crackdown on peaceable protesters, armed resistance to navy rule took root throughout the nation, with younger pro-democracy fighters allying with extra established ethnic armed teams. In Shan, which has extra ethnic armed teams than some other state or area, a few of these teams have clashed with the navy and skilled new resistance forces. Different highly effective teams, just like the United Wa State Military or Restoration Council of Shan State, have as an alternative recurrently met with junta officers whereas persevering with to look at ceasefires.
As in another areas, many Pa-O youths have damaged with their elders because the coup and shaped new anti-junta armed teams, reasonably than becoming a member of the ranks of a navy collaborator. These new resistance teams have watched the PNO’s current recruitment drive with alarm.
“They’re getting ready for battle,” mentioned Khun Thiha Htoo Zaw, a spokesperson for the Pa-O Nationwide Defence Drive, which was shaped after the coup to combat the navy regime.
Shopping for compliance
Pa-O uprisings in opposition to the central authorities started shortly after independence in 1948, with varied armed factions rising, typically riven by inner schisms. The PNO emerged as one distinguished faction, however in alternate for signing a ceasefire in 1991, its leaders had been granted profitable jade and gem mining concessions. Over the next many years, the group’s enterprise empire grew to incorporate transport and tourism enterprises, together with a distinguished resort on Inle Lake.
Regardless of retaining an armed wing that’s formally a militia underneath Tatmadaw command, the PNO can be a registered political occasion and has dominated successive elections within the Pa-O SAZ.
Cooperation with the navy has solely deepened because the coup. In February of this yr, Pa-O SAZ chairman Khun San Lwin was appointed to the State Administration Council, the chief physique of the navy junta. Khun Aung Kham Hti, the PNO’s veteran chief, was awarded the honorary title of Wunna Kyawhtin by navy chief Senior Basic Min Aung Hlaing in April final yr, whereas pro-military monk Sitagu Sayadaw paid a go to to his residence in Might.
“We don’t settle for the navy coup, however [PNO leaders] work along with the navy,” Poe Chi mentioned. “They settle for it and don’t even cover it… They stand on the alternative facet of the Pa-O folks. We consider that if the navy asks, the PNO will do something.”
Khok Kham declined to touch upon how PNO’s enterprise pursuits had been affected by the coup. Nonetheless, in November final yr, the identical social media account that broadcast the commencement shared a video exhibiting an antimony mining block in Hopong managed by the highly effective PNO-backed Ruby Dragon Group of Firms. Firm chair Khun Nay Win Tun, a former member of parliament, is seen in PNO navy uniform explaining how native communities can profit from the mining trade.
However Pa-O folks interviewed by Frontier insist they don’t obtain any advantages from the PNO’s companies.
“They mentioned that is for us, however the advantages by no means attain the folks,” Poe Chi mentioned. “Now that commodity costs are rising, livelihoods are in danger. Many Pa-O are going to work in Thailand.”
Thiha Htoo Zaw agreed. “The PNO is simply working for the pursuits of the highest leaders,” he mentioned.
‘A thorn within the facet of revolutionary forces’
Earlier than the coup, the PNO was believed to have round 200-300 troopers, recruiting fighters solely to replenish its ranks.
“That is the primary time I’ve seen such a large-scale recruitment of troopers by the PNO,” mentioned Khun Tin Maung*, a former welfare employee from Pinlaung who now works as a tea leaf farmer.
Locals have little doubt about why that is taking place.
In Might final yr, the Individuals’s Defence Drive-Pekhon and Karenni Nationalities Defence Drive reportedly attacked a joint camp belonging to the PNO and Tatmadaw close to Hti Ree village in Nyaung Shwe Township. The resistance teams mentioned they killed 15 enemy troops, together with a Tatmadaw main, and captured 5 extra, together with three PNO fighters.
The KNDF primarily operates in Kayah State, south of Shan , whereas the PDF–Pekon is energetic on the Shan-Kayah border. The assault in Hti Ree came about round 90 kilometres north of the state border, indicating the teams had been penetrating deeper into Shan. This seemingly alarmed the PNO.
In July, Tin Maung mentioned “the PNO held a gathering and decided”, after which PNO navy officers “introduced within the villages that individuals have to attend their navy coaching”.
In response to residents, the PNO ordered village elders to every select 15 new recruits between the ages of 18 and 35, prompting an exodus of younger folks.
“A few of them went to work in cities elsewhere. Many individuals didn’t wish to be part of,” Poe Chi mentioned.
She mentioned the PNO additionally started demanding cash from residents. Every family was anticipated to pay a one-time price of K30,000, however Poe Chi claimed the PNO additionally arrange checkpoints on roads the place its troops arbitrarily demand fee from travellers. She mentioned her buddy was stopped and compelled to pay K50,000 for driving after 9pm.
“They do that when our dwelling situations are already tight, which simply causes extra hardship,” Poe Chi mentioned.
Preventing has continued this yr – on January 3, an anti-regime coalition generally known as the United Southern Shan Federal Union reportedly clashed with the navy and PNO once more in Nyaung Shwe.
“The PNO is a thorn within the facet of the revolutionary forces in southern Shan State. If we wish to assault the navy, we have to combat PNO first,” mentioned Thiha Htoo Zaw of the Pa-O Nationwide Defence Drive. “If the PNO is doing what the navy asks, they’re our enemy. If they’re our enemy, we should combat them.”
However civilians like Tin Maung fear this can result in Pa-O folks combating and killing one another.
“The PNO recruited troopers by power. The PDFs could misunderstand this. We don’t help the navy council, but when the PNO forces us we’ve to go,” he mentioned.
For folks like Tun Zaw, who fled to Taungoo to keep away from recruitment, the escalating tensions imply he can’t return residence.
“If I went again to my village, I would nonetheless need to do navy coaching. So, I’m making an attempt to go to Thailand as an alternative,” he mentioned. “I miss my mother and father; they’re very outdated now. If the PNO didn’t attempt to recruit me, I wouldn’t depart for Thailand. I may keep and work at my mother and father’ farm.”
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