Pa-O teams against Myanmar’s army regime have denounced plans by the Pa-O Nationwide Organisation (PNO) to type a brand new civilian “safety drive” inside its territory.
The plan, introduced in a press release launched on Wednesday, was seen by many as a part of the PNO’s efforts to assist the junta that seized energy in February of final yr.
The PNO, which has been near Myanmar’s army because it signed a ceasefire settlement in 1991, controls the three southern Shan State townships of Hsihseng, Hopong and Pinlaung that comprise the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone.
Calling the transfer an try and create an ethnic Pa-O model of the Pyu Noticed Htee militia that has been used to suppress anti-regime teams in different components of the nation, a member of 1 group known as on native folks to spurn the PNO’s efforts.
“I wish to urge the general public to reject cowardly organisations that may’t resist the junta’s orders to take advantage of the Pa-O folks,” stated a member of the Pa-O Individuals’s Defence Power—Kham Dom.
“Individuals ought to ask themselves in the event that they need to be mere grunts beneath this regime,” he added.
The spokesperson for an additional group contacted by Myanmar Now, the Pa-O Nationwide Federal Council (PNFC), had the same response to the PNO’s announcement.
“The general public have to know that they’re being tricked. The Pa-O folks have at all times revolted in opposition to dangerous programs all through historical past, and they should choose the best facet this time, too,” the PNFC spokesperson stated.
Khun Thiha Htoo Zaw, an officer of the Pa-O Nationwide Defence Power, prompt that the actual purpose for recruiting civilians was to discourage resistance teams from attacking regime forces.
“Anybody who takes their army coaching will inevitably be used as human shields,” he stated, including that Myanmar’s army routinely makes use of civilians on this method.
He additionally stated that civilians ought to keep away from being utilized by the army in different methods—specifically, as informants.
Locals say {that a} militia affiliated with the PNO has been forcibly recruiting males since Could. Members of the militia have additionally been accused of demanding cash from poor villagers.
Talking to Myanmar Now final week, PNO officer Lt-Col Khun Aung Than admitted that civilians dwelling inside its territory have been anticipated to supply monetary assist.
“We want cash to guard our personal villages,” he stated with out elaborating.
He denied, nevertheless, that the PNO had shaped a militia, saying that it had merely imposed obligatory fight and martial arts coaching on all males between the ages of 18 and 35 “to guard their neighbourhoods when the necessity arises.”
In Could, anti-regime forces that overran an outpost in Shan State’s Nyaungshwe Township reported that that they had captured three members of the Pa-O Nationwide Army, the PNO’s armed wing, who have been combating alongside junta troops.
Nonetheless, Khun Aung Than rejected allegations that the PNO was collaborating with regime forces.
“It’s true that we have been with the army personnel as it’s inside our territory. We’ve by no means trespassed into anybody’s territory however we are going to assault whoever trespasses into ours,” he stated.
