New Delhi: Over 20 Myanmarese military officials and militia members supporting the Junta have been assassinated by the anti-regime resistance groups since early March “for attempting to forcibly recruit civilians (into the country’s military) under the newly activated conscription law”, The Irrawaddy has reported.
“The Irrawaddy has learned that so far over 20 Junta administrators and pro-Junta militia leaders linked to forcible recruitment have been killed and around 10 others arrested since early March,” the news outfit said in a report on April 1. It said over 10 of them were assassinated “in the past two weeks” alone.
A conscription law was activated by the Junta this February, largely to deal with the heavy casualty of its troops at the hands of the pro-democracy resistance groups and the ethnic armed outfits supporting them. It led the Junta to order recruitment of able civilians, both men and women. Several such civilians have since fled the country or to the ‘liberated areas’ fearing forcible recruitment. There has also been report of the Junta particularly targeting youth from the Rohingya community for conscription.
“Since the activation of the law, People’s Defence Force groups (PDFs) and some ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) have strongly warned Junta officials to halt forcible military recruitment or face severe consequences,” the news report said.
“However, ignoring the warning, junta-appointed ward and village administrators and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members have been calling up conscripts in large cities, including the Junta’s administrative capital Naypyitaw, the commercial capital Yangon and the country’s second-largest city Mandalay.”
Besides, there have been continuous news reports about youths being “kidnapped” or “arrested” by the junta from the streets and markets, allegedly to take on the resistance forces.
The Irrawaddy said, “Numerous assassinations of junta administrators and pro-junta militia members linked to forcible recruitment have been reported in Bago, Magwe and Mandalay regions in the past few weeks.”
The National Unity Government (NUG) dethroned by the junta in a coup in 2021, has also recently started a Telegram channel for civilians to report forcible recruitment by the military. The NUG’s military wing, the PDF, has been engaged in an armed conflict with the military regime since this past October; PDF has been supported by three of the most powerful EAOs of Myanmar. Together, they have been successful in clearing a large swathe of areas across several states from Junta’s control.
