In Nawnglai Village Tract, located in Hopong Township in southern Shan State, the Pa-O National Organization (PNO) has warned that if locals on its conscription draft list are already abroad, their families will be required to pay a fine.
On the evening of September 2, the PNO convened residents from the villages of Nawnglai Village Tract, instructing each village to provide five conscripts. It warned that if someone on the conscription list is already abroad, their family would be required to pay a fine of 400,000 MMK every three months. The group added that students would be exempt from the conscription drive.
The PNO has compiled a list of men aged 18 to 35 from villages in Nawnglai Village Tract and assigned them random senior numbers. A 30-year-old local man said that those whose numbers are selected will be sent to Honar Village for military training conducted by the PNO.
“Before, only two people were drafted from each village, but now the PNO has told us that five people from each village will be conscripted. Those who are drafted will have to attend the PNO’s basic military training for 15 days. We don’t know yet if they will be called up again later. For now, the PNO is letting those who complete the training go back home,” he told Shan Herald.
Additionally, the PNO has warned that if a draftee is abroad when it is his turn, his family will have to pay a fine of 400,000 MMK. If the draftee does not return, the same fine will be imposed every three months.
The source lamented that it has been nearly two years since he was forced to pay the conscription fund for the junta and the cost of ammunition for the PNO in installments of 50,000 MMK each.
“The junta and the PNO collected the conscription fund and the money for bullets separately. I’m not wealthy, but I didn’t dare defy them, so I had to pay what they demanded,” he said.
On September 2, the PNO also held a meeting in Sangaw Village, Sanhpu Village Tract, Hopong Township, and announced that two conscripts would be drafted from each village.
“Yesterday, the PNO held a meeting to tell us that the conscription drive will start again. Students will be exempt for now, but they’ll have to report after graduation. The PNO said it won’t accept any payment or negotiation, but each village has to provide two men. It seems like every village will have to send the number the PNO is demanding, with no other options,” a 40-year-old Sangaw villager told Shan Herald.
In January, the junta and PNO carried out nighttime artillery exercises at the military training site in Honar Village, causing panic among locals who mistakenly thought a conflict had broken out.
