The junta administration in Namsang Town in southern Shan State is summoning eligible residents and forcing them to take part in a lottery to decide which of them gets conscripted.

Since the last week of May, officials from the junta and the junta-run Namsang General Administration Office have been delivering summonses to the homes of conscription age men in the downtown wards of Namsang Town. It is the first time a lottery system has been used to pick conscripts in Namsang Town.

According to the summonses the draw will take place on 2 June 2025 when 20 residents of Ward 1 and 10 residents of Ward 2 will draw lots to see which of them is conscripted. Eligible residents from other Namsang Town wards will draw lots later at the town’s General Administration Office.

A young resident of Namsang Town said: “The General Administration Office has already reached out to those selected to take part in the lottery. In Ward 1, 20 people will draw lots, and 6 of them will be conscripted. Officials have also planned lotteries for the other wards right after the Ward 1 draw. From those, 3 people from Nawnghpar Ward, 2 from Yayngotekyaung Ward, and 5 from Kalayat Ward will be picked for conscription.”

Families of young men in Namsang Town who have been called up for the conscription lottery are very shocked and concerned, as this is the first time they have ever received such summonses.

Previously Namsang Town’s conscription quota was filled by individuals who had been arrested for drug offences by the junta police.

The junta started enforcing the conscription law on 10 February 2024 in a desperate attempt to address severe manpower shortages caused by battlefield losses.