The junta-aligned Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) ethnic armed organisation (EAO) is forcibly evicting all the residents from 12 villages in two village tracts in Hsihseng Township, southern Shan State.

The PNO is forcing all the residents of Nawngkyaw and Taungshey village tracts to leave their homes by mid-June 2025. It has offered them no compensation, alternative accommodation or help moving.

The PNO has sent letters to all the residents of Tapuhto, Kawnghto, Lwengun, Nawngbo, and Pinset villages in Nawngkyaw Village Tract Kalaban Village and the six villages of Nawnghtaung 1 to 6 in Taungshey Village Tract, ordering them to leave by 15 June.

The PNO also warned that it could not guarantee the safety of any villagers who do not leave their homes by 15 June.

All the villages are along a stretch of National Highway 5 where the PNO has deployed troops and it is allegedly evicting all the residents for security reasons, according to a Hsihseng Township resident.

He said to Shan Herald: “The PNO has set up guard posts along the highway and is evicting villagers because it doesn’t want any residential areas near these positions. Currently, the PNO is restricting local movement, permitting it only between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm.”

The PNO’s eviction orders will affect approximately 6,000 villagers living in the two village tracts.