216 youths have enlisted with the Shan State Army (SSA) “in order to sacrifice their lives for the country and nation”, reported Tai Youth Campaign (TYC) Facebook yesterday.
The voluntary signing up took place during the 10-day Nampook battle around Wanhai, the SSA headquarters in Kehsi township, 11-20 July, it says.
They include migrant workers in Rangoon, Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo) and Taunggyi, workers from brokerage firms and truck drivers. “Among them are 26 male degree holders and 13 heroic women,” it says.
One of the new volunteers told SHAN he would be working in the public relations department. “Sao Pang Fa’s refusal to surrender, the courage of his troops to fight despite the odds and the excesses by the Burmese Army against the population had made me decide it is a cause worth fighting and dying for,” said another.
The SSA North, officially the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) groups that had spurned Naypyitaw’s “one country, one military” program unless the rights to autonomy, democracy and human rights enshrined in the 1947 Panglong Agreement were honored by the country’s military rulers.
