The junta has called on everyone who fled abroad and to resistance controlled areas to return home, promising that they will all be treated leniently, except those who took up arms against the junta.
The call was made in a statement issued by the junta on 3 January 2024.
The statement acknowledged that since the 1st February 2021, many citizens, including students, youths, and civil servants, have fled to resistance controlled areas and foreign countries.
But, in a twisted display of logic the junta statement blamed everyone except itself for the exodus. Instead, it tried to pin the blame for the exodus on various people and organisations such as the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and the National Unity Government (NUG).
The statement said that anyone returning who had not taken arms up against the junta or fundraised for the revolution would be leniently treated and could get their job back if they were previously employed by the government.
Needless to say, most people were very sceptical about the junta’s offer.
A former government employee who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and is currently sheltering in a resistance-controlled area said he had fled because he was afraid of being arrested for joining the CDM and said that he could not trust the junta's statement.
He said: “The junta has offered to allow those who fled to return, but at the same time, in the areas under its control, it is forcibly abducting young people and civilians for conscription. These abuses are escalating in both rural and urban areas. While the junta claims it wants fleeing people to return, it continues to commit despicable acts. As a citizen, I distrust the junta 100 per cent.
The junta statement also claimed that those who have fled abroad and to resistance controlled areas are facing economic hardships, livelihood difficulties, and a lack of security in their current locations. Observers believe the junta said this so that it can portray itself as providing humanitarian aid to its citizens who are in distress abroad.
They also speculated that the junta was calling for people to return so that they can participate in the upcoming junta organised elections in Myanmar, due to be held in October 2025.
Another young man sheltering in a resistance controlled area remarked that the junta always makes such hollow offers whenever it faces a crisis.
He said: “The junta is completely untrustworthy under any circumstances. It has used this tactic before in times of crisis. The cunning junta is merely trying to deceive the public in order to find a way out of its problems, and there are past lessons that prove this.”
The junta statement said that those people who want to return and had fled to resistance controlled areas should contact their nearest junta township or district administration councils to arrange their return, whilst people who fled abroad can contact their nearest Myanmar embassy or consulate which will arrange for them to return.
According to statistics by the NUG's Human Rights Ministry released on 1 January 2025, between 10 February and 31 December 2024, there were 22,760 people abducted in connection with the junta's enforcement of the conscription law and 1,160 human rights violations were recorded.
