Thandwe administrator involved in junta conscription efforts murdered

By Admin 22 Mar 2024

DMG Newsroom
22 March 2024, Thandwe

A local administrator involved in collecting personal details of people eligible to be drafted into the Myanmar military was killed in Thandwe Township on Thursday at noon.

U Win Shwe, the 44-year-old administrator overseeing 100 households in the village of Dar Wa, was stabbed to death between Dar Wa and Taung Thar villages. He had five knife wounds in his chest, and his throat was slit.

A family member of U Win Shwe said: “Suspects are not yet identified, nor is the motive.”

Many locals nonetheless assume that he was killed by people who were angered by his involvement in the junta’s conscription drive.

“Some ward and village administrators are going door to door to register potential conscripts. U Win Shwe was one of them. So, people assume that he was killed for that reason,” said a resident of Dar Wa Village.

Family members believe he was killed due to personal grudges.

“There are also other people who are collecting personal details. We don’t accept such an arbitrary killing. We will try to find out the truth,” said a relative.

After a string of military defeats since November last year that saw the regime losing dozens of towns in northern Shan State, Arakan State, and elsewhere, the junta introduced mandatory military service on February 10, requiring young men and women to serve in the military for two to five years.

The regime has instructed ward and village administrators to collect personal details of eligible persons in Thandwe, Taungup, Manaung and Gwa townships in southern Arakan State. Some administrators have submitted their resignations in response.