The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) is detaining parents and only releasing them once their sons sign up to become SSPP/SSA soldiers. SSPP/SSA troops stationed in Namtu Township abducted parents with sons in Mongyin Village Tract in early December 2024. It has been holding them captive for over a month and says it will only release them when their sons agree to join the SSPP/SSA, according to a family member of one of the detained parents.
The unfortunate reality emerging from Myanmar is that outside of the PDFs (People’s Defense Forces that were formed in the immediate aftermath of the coup in 2021) ethnic armies are also military dictatorships, their ranks built through forced conscription with severe punishment for defectors and their families.
The unfortunate reality emerging from Myanmar is that outside of the PDFs (People’s Defense Forces that were formed in the immediate aftermath of the coup in 2021) ethnic armies are also military dictatorships, their ranks built through forced conscription with severe punishment for defectors and their families.