Yangon – After a record number of heavy toll faced by Myanmar’s military junta in intense fighting across the country, the military junta has started a new way of getting new recruits for which forced conscription has been started in locations that appear to be dominant with the presence of the junta army’s sponsored militia group known as Pyo Saw Htee.
Chindwin is provided with new evidence by locals from Thayet town of Magway region, which is located in the middle of Myanmar, saying that the junta army, in conjunction with village administrators appointed by the military junta and its militia Pyu Saw Htee group are taking around 20 young people per village in the Thatyet district to be forcibly sent to the military training as new recruits.
The targeted age is said to be between 20 and 30.
Our source has confirmed the junta army accompanied by village administrators and its militia group has approached villages after villages in Thayet district of Magway and forcibly took male villagers aged between 20 and 30 to join the military.
Villagers and residents in the Thayet town are terrified of being caught by the junta army, or its militia group and forcibly being recruited to join the junta army. And many are said to have fled the villages and towns in the jungles to avoid the military junta’s recruitment.
The military junta spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun does not rule out the idea of compulsory military service, if necessary, during previous press conferences, saying that there is a law on the compulsory military service for citizens, but it never has been enforced. This can be reinforced if needed be.
Record numbers of Myanmar’s military junta have been killed, and thousands have been injured in intense fighting since April 2021 after the junta army brutally cracked down on peaceful protesters following the February 01 coup.
On the other hand, hundreds of civilians have been killed and brutally murdered by the junta army in places ranging from Chin state to Kayah State.
So far, the heavy toll comes largely from battles in regional areas, although hit-and-run attacks and bomb attacks are mostly seen at large cities.
Large swathes of the country so far have fallen to the ethnic armed organizations as well as local People Defense Forces after months of armed conflicts between Myanmar’s junta army and local Defense Forces.
Casualties for both the junta army and ethnic armed groups and People Defense Forces reached record highs in the first month of 2022.
The increase in civilian casualties in Sagaing, Kayah and Karen regions are significantly caused by the relentless airstrike by Myanmar’s junta air force.
