Civil servants working for military regime leave Papun after KNU ultimatum

By DMG 10 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
10 February 2022, Papun, Kayin State

Scores of civil servants working under the Myanmar junta have reportedly left Papun, a town in Kayin State, after Brigade 5 of the Karen National Union (KNU) issued a letter instructing them to depart.

As of February 9, more than 130 civil servants had left Papun, according to an official from the KNU’s 5th Brigade.

“More than 130 civil servants under the Myanmar regime left Papun and most of them were female employees. Locals said a total of 136 civil servants — 62 men and 74 women — left Papun,” the KNU official added.

The letter from the KNU’s Brigade 5 warned all civil servants under the Myanmar regime in Kayin State’s Papun and Mutraw districts to return home by February 10.

“In order to take down the military’s governing mechanism and reduce their control over the country, we must take care of their collaborators too,” KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee was quoted by Myanmar Now as saying.

The KNU’s Brigade 1 also released a statement on February 8, urging Border Guard Force (BGF) members serving under the Myanmar military and military-allied “people’s militias” in Hpa-an and Thaton districts to resign, and telling families living in the BGF camps to leave them.

“Statements by other brigades will also be issued,” said an official from the KNU’s Brigade 6.

Ko Min, a political analyst, said the announcement would likely undermine the administrative machinery of the Myanmar regime in the affected areas.

“The issuance of the warning letter by the KNU further underscores the complete collapse of the military council. Over time, the military council may become completely discomfited,” he added.

Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, often fierce fighting has flared with regularity between junta forces and KNU and other KNU-allied armed groups in areas controlled by the KNU, including Kayin and Mon states.