SNA Forcibly Conscripting Youths in Inndaw Gyi Area for Military Training

Pajau Media

August 6, 2025

Locals report that the SNA (Shan Ni Nationalities Army) is aggressively conscripting Shan Ni youths from villages such as Nant Mun, Mai Naung, Ma Mong Kai, Mohnyin, and Hopin in efforts to gain full control over the Inndaw Gyi region. The conscriptions come with forced military training for villagers.

In Mai Naung, Lepone, and Shwe Let Pan villages, one person per household is being forcibly taken for this training, according to a local resident who spoke anonymously.

"Initially in Shwe Let Pan village, they only asked for 30 recruits. But now, no one wants to send their own children. Wealthier families pay between 500,000 to 1 million kyats to pay substitutes.

Those who can't afford it have no choice but to go. One young man, around 30 years old, with a wife and child, became severely distressed the night his name was listed and fell into a state of mental collapse, almost like he died from the stress," the source said.

The SNA is also ordering families to recall young people who have left the area or traveled, threatening to seal their houses if they refuse to return and attend training. In Nant Mun village, locals are being rounded up weekly for training sessions, which reportedly last 45 days.

Moreover, Kachin households that have fled from Mai Naung are being targeted houses are sealed off and belongings taken. Some properties are looted or destroyed, a resident of Mai Naung reported.

"They took 700 baskets of rice from a Kachin home that fled toward Mohnyin. They sold 200 baskets and transported the remaining 500 to their base. From another house, they took large wardrobes, cows, chickens, and pigs."

Early in 2025, authorities gave the Shan Ni administration permission to implement a local military conscription law. Since then, children as young as 12 are being detained and sent to undergo military training.

After Mai Naung and Ma Mong Kai villages were relinquished by joint KIA (Kachin Independence Army) forces, Kachin residents in these areas faced relentless threats and were forced to flee.

Now only Shan Ni and Bamar ethnic communities are left behind, and they're reportedly being forced to contribute one recruit per household for military duty, under extreme coercion, according to a Kachin local.

Report by: Kachin Pyitar