In an attempt to recruit new members, the Border Guard Force (BGF) is compiling the list of names at the IDP camps in Chiphwe Township in Myitkyina District in Kachin State, according to the IDPs.

The militia is under the control of the junta. Recently, the BGF arrested three youths in Myawmawpar in Chiphwe Township, citing the anti-coup movement.

U Sakhone Ting Ying, Head of Kachin People’s Militia Forces performed the duty in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), leaving in 1968.

Afterward, he set up the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK) in the special region-1. In 2009, he accepted the military government’s plan to transform ethnic armed groups into border guard forces.

Then, the NDAK was transformed into three BGF battalions. Currently, the BGF and militia forces are cracking down the anti-coup protestors in Panwar, Chiphwe and Kanpiketi.

The IDPs and people in the BGF-controlled areas find it difficult to refuse the recruitment, said, locals.

An IDP said: “Since yesterday, the BGF is compiling the list of names at all IDP camps, saying that one person from every house must join the BGF. The BGF compiles the list of the people by name. We are forced to join the BGF whether we like it or not”

There are two IDP camps in Chiphwe Township, where the IDPs from more than 10 villages are taking shelter. The IDPs are planning to go home as they have been living there for more than a decade.

A local said: “At the beginning, the BGF said those who go home will have to join the BGF. But now IDPs from every house must join the BGF, whether the IDPs go home or not.