The Military Council has established an outpost and set up a checkpoint near a brickyard area, adjacent to the southern exit of Kyunhla Township in Sagaing Region, and the local men have been compelled to take turns standing guard at the site.
By the second week of March, construction of the outpost had started, with Military Council troops and subordinate Pyu-Saw-Htee militia stationed there. Locals accused that the Pyu-Saw Htees compelled civilian men to stand guard, against their will.
“Pyu-Saw Htees came up with the idea to demand local men from each of the ten households to take turns keeping watch. "They also warned that those who refuse to do so will be forced into the forests”, a local said.
Construction of the outpost around the brickyard commenced on March 9th, with civilian guards stationed to provide security.
Initially, both Military Council troops and Pyu-Saw-Htee provided security together. However, following rifts and quarrels between them, local men were summoned to guard the site.
“Pyu-Saw-Htees have stopped coming to the outpost. Following a quarrel among themselves, they started pressuring unrelated civilians to take up guard duty. The Kyunhla-based Military Council troops have also withdrawn from the outpost. Previously, the outpost had been manned by around eight soldiers and Pyu-Saw-Htees, but the latter outnumbered the former”, a witness said.
The locals are anxious as the Pyu-Saw-Htee have issued threats that men who do not perform guard duty at the checkpoint will be denied entry into the city and coerced into wandering the nearby forests.
As a result, the residents of Pyinma Myaing ward in Kyunhla are currently discussing the prospect of implementing a rotating watch system.
Several villages in Kyunhla and Kanbalu townships of Sagaing Region are presently enduring the arson attacks committed by the Military Council, masquerading it under the guise of area clearance operations.
In a most recent incident, on February 11th, the Military Council troops burned down Kyar Ta Kan village in Kyunhla, causing approximately 2,000 residents of the village and surrounding areas to flee, according to the Kyunhla-Kanbalu activists.
Similarly, on January 30th at approximately 6:30 AM, the Military Council and Pyu-Saw-Htee militias, comprising a group of roughly 100 troops, burned down four villages situated in the Taung Yar Seik village tract in Kyunhla, under the pretext of an area clearance operation.
