Chin State resistance force detains local administrative staff for involvement in junta conscription efforts

The anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) of Zoland announced on Monday that its members had arrested five military-appointed administrative staff in Tedim Township, Chin State, for their alleged enforcement of the Myanmar army’s conscription policy. The men, who were photographed blindfolded by the resistance group that morning, were identified as: 35-year-old Kut Swim Khua, an associate engineer on the township’s development committee; Hlyan Lam Khaing, 48, a general administration department clerk; Shin Khant Khua, also 48, from the department of sports; Khua Hlyan Mone, 55, the deputy supervisor of the livestock department; and 57-year-old Nan Swim Gwan, a junior clerk at the immigration office. An officer in Tedim’s people’s administration team said that the individuals did not heed warnings from the resistance to not participate in the military’s nationwide revival of the 2010 People’s Military Service Law. “They went to people’s homes and forced families to fill out the conscription forms, which clearly overstepped the boundaries of our warning and understanding,” the officer explained, claiming that the individuals in question had been involved in recruitment processes since March 18. The man said that his administration, the PDF, and lawyers would discuss the appropriate punishment for the detained military council staff. Junta troops began patrols around Tedim town on Monday morning after the PDF Zoland’s arrest of the men, firing warning shots into the air, and checking the mobile phones of pedestrians. Myanmar Now contacted a spokesperson for the junta’s administration in Chin State for comment on the situation in Tedim but the calls went unanswered. The enforcement of the conscription law was announced in mid-February by the junta, which has suffered heavy losses in battles with resistance forces since staging a coup more than three years ago. Under the statute, conscripts must serve in the army for up to five years. By early March, the junta declared that training centres had been opened and a recruitment system was in place to secure new troops. Monitoring group Data for Myanmar stated that the military had several methods of obtaining new recruits, including collecting names of eligible young people and summoning them to nearby bases, with particular efforts deployed in Yangon, Bago, and Ayeyarwady regions, as well as in Naypyitaw. Recruiters have also been active in towns under military control, including Hakha, Falam, Tedim, Mindat and Matupi in Chin State. The Hakha chapter of the Chinland Defence Force recently attacked junta delegates compiling the names of eligible conscripts. Like the PDF Zoland, anti-junta forces across the country have issued general warnings to administrators not to enforce or advance the conscription efforts, and several such individuals who reportedly participated in the recruitment have been assassinated. Dozens of administrators resigned in neighbouring Rakhine State in recent weeks over the issue of conscription. The military council has estimated that there are 14 million eligible people nationwide who could be drafted into the army, and the first batch of 5,000 new recruits would be taken in after the Thingyan celebrations in April

Chin State resistance force detains local administrative staff for involvement in junta conscription efforts

A People’s Defence Force chapter in Tedim arrests five men for allegedly forcing locals to fill out military recruitment forms in their homes

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