Regime-appointed Arakan State chief minister leads conscription drive

By Admin 11 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
11 April 2024, Sittwe

With the regime having lost large swaths of territory in Arakan State, and desertions and surrender of junta soldiers to the Arakan Army (AA) on the rise, the junta-appointed Arakan State chief minister has been forced to personally take charge of a conscription campaign in the state.

Junta-appointed Arakan State chief minister U Htein Lin, accompanied by members of the Arakan State military council, went to Thandwe on Tuesday when he chaired educational talks on mandatory military service.

There he formed a district-level body for overseeing conscription in Thandwe District. He told the body to summon and register every draft-age person, junta-controlled state broadcaster MRTV reported.

The regime claimed that it had opened two military training sessions for Thandwe District residents who had voluntarily enlisted.

However, Thandwe Township residents said that each ward or village was forced to supply 35 young people.

“The chief minister of the regime has come to put pressure on everyone [eligible] to serve in the military,” said an activist from Thandwe.

Many young people have fled Thandwe to other parts of the country or overseas as regime officials are registering draft-age people.

The regime has been organising pep talks in southern Arakan townships to solicit support for mandatory military service. Amid pressure from the regime, some administrators in Thandwe, Taungup, Manaung and Gwa townships have submitted their resignations.

“As the regime has lost most of the towns in northern Arakan State, it is forcing the young people in towns under its control to fight for it,” said a young man from Thandwe.

Military training for the first batch of conscripts officially began this week, some two months after the regime enforced mandatory military service on February 10.