In Nangtoke Village of Pinlaung Township, southern Shan State, residents returning after displacement are facing extortion from the junta-aligned militia group Pa-O National Organization (PNO).

In March 2024, following arbitrary and unilateral artillery shelling by junta troops based in Pinlaung Township, villagers from Nangtoke Village fled to nearby villages and Naungtayar Town within the same township seeking refuge.

With the fighting in Pinlaung Township over and the junta’s artillery shelling stopped, displaced Nangtoke villagers have begun returning home in batches since the last week of July.

Upon returning, villagers were handed a notice from the PNO demanding a payment of 500,000 MMK per household by August 15 and ordering them to come back in batches of no more than 50 people each.

“The villagers are only allowed to return in groups of 50 at a time. The PNO is demanding that each household pay 500,000 MMK, but we’ve heard that some families are being told to pay as much as 700,000 MMK. If you add it all up, the whole village will have to hand over about 80 million MMK to the PNO. There are also concerns that, down the line, households will be forced to provide conscripts for the PNO on a rotating basis,” a Nangtoke villager told Shan Herald.

He added that the worst part is the PNO has banned returnees from working and from going to their farms.

“If the villagers aren’t allowed to work, where are we supposed to earn the money the PNO is demanding? Most of us are struggling just to meet our basic needs. Right now, the PNO controls everything,” he said.

Nangtoke Village is located approximately 22 miles from Pinlaung Town, the administrative center of Pinlaung Township, and about 18 miles from Inle Lake in southern Shan State’s Nyaungshwe Township.

In a similar case, the PNO extorted money from residents who temporarily relocated from Hpayartaung Village in Pekon Township, southern Shan State, to Nangpang Village in Inle Lake region, demanding 500,000 MMK per household for their return and requiring each household to provide conscripts on a rotational basis.

“The PNO told us that if we wanted to go back home, each household had to pay 500,000 MMK and agree to send someone for military service on a rotating basis. We decided not to return because we can’t accept conscription. Even if we did, it’s very likely the PNO troops have already looted everything in our homes, so there wouldn’t be anything left for us anyway,” said a Hpayartaung villager currently taking refuge in Nangpang Village.

Before their return, displaced residents of Nangtoke and Hpayartaung villages, along with those still displaced from Nyaunglaypin and Taungpoetkwe villages in Nyaungshwe Township, had been forced to contribute 15,000 MMK per household each month to the PNO as conscription funds for the past eight months.