About 800 internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Hsihseng Township, southern Shan State have been banned from traveling by the junta and the allied Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) ethnic armed organisation (EAO).

Originally the IDPs had fled fighting in Hsawngpyaung Village in nearby Pinlaung Township, also in southern Shan State, in early May 2025. Initially the IDPs sheltered in the forest around Hsawngpyaung Village.

But, on 2 June, a column of about 1,000 junta soldiers arrived in Hsawngpyaung Village and spread out into the surrounding areas where the IDPs were sheltering. As a result the IDPs were forced to relocate and many moved to the villages of Nawngparyin and Loise  in Hsihseng Township.

Originally the IDPs were not planning to stay long in the villages. Their plan was to use the villages as transit points as they moved to other areas where they had relatives who could help them. But, since the IDPs arrived in the villages the junta and PNO forces have been restricting their movement and preventing them from leaving the villages, according to a resident of Hsihseng Township.

He said: "The IDPs are stuck where they are and aren’t allowed to go anywhere. The junta and PNO seem to be worried that People's Defence Force (PDF) members might be hiding among the IDPs, which could spread the fighting to Hsihseng Township. But actually, there aren’t any PDF fighters with the IDPs — they’re all just civilians.”

The junta and PNO yet have to respond to the allegations that they are keeping the IDPs trapped in the villages.

With so many people unable to leave the villages the villagers and IDPs trapped there are starting to suffer due to increasing shortages of food and water.

The aforementioned Hsihseng Township resident said: “There are a lot of challenges in providing help to them [the IDPs] where they’re staying. The villages are far from water sources like streams, and since the IDPs aren’t allowed to go out, they have to rely only on the villages’ wells. With so many people, it’s really hard for them to get enough water.”

Recently, between 6 and 15 June, the PNO forcibly evicted 6,000 villagers from their homes in the village tracts of Nawngkyaw and Taungshey, also in Hsihseng Township.

In the last few days there has been fierce fighting in Pinlaung, Pekon, and Nyaungshwe townships in southern Shan State as the junta and PNO coalition launches offensives there.

Hsihseng and Pinlaung Townships are part of the Pa'O Self-Administered Zone which is run by the PNO.