Mawlamyine Residents Abducted for Forced Conscription by Junta Forces

September 30, 2025

HURFOM: In Mawlamyine, Mon State, ten local men were forcibly arrested and taken for military conscription as part of the junta’s 18th batch of the People’s Military Service training course. The arrests occurred on the evening of September 23, near the traditional hospital, located between Myain Tharyar Ward and Phak Khin Ward. Witnesses reported that junta soldiers surrounded the area around 6:30 p.m., detained the men, and drove them away in a black private car to the Southeastern Military Command.

“They also arrested construction workers. They had been watching them closely and then suddenly took ten of them. All are originally from the Ayeyarwady Region but were living in Zayar Myaing Ward. Some are married, and four are over 40 years old,” explained a resident from Phak Khin Ward.

This latest round of forced conscription is part of a broader campaign in Mawlamyine Township. Administrators, police, junta soldiers, and members of militia groups have been working together to seize men from the community. Ward and village administrators under the military commission have summoned residents, raided homes, and abducted people at night. Young men have been taken from their workplaces, pulled off the streets, or detained while commuting.

“In August, a 16-year-old boy from 16th Street, Myain Tharyar Ward, was taken at night. They claimed it was because he wasn’t in school or employed. Now he is in the People’s Military Unit, which already includes other underage boys and even men over 60,” said a local source familiar with the case.

The climate of fear in Mawlamyine has worsened. Residents told HURFOM that young people no longer feel safe even walking outside, knowing that soldiers and militia members can detain them at any time. Those who stay inside are not protected either—arrests have been made directly from homes. Community members reported that the junta has intensified its recruitment drive in recent weeks, employing increasingly aggressive tactics to replenish its depleted ranks.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News