The Ward Administrator of Ward No.1 of Pakokku town said if 50 million kyats are paid for not joining the military service, he will replace another one.
According to town residents, the ward administrator demanded such a call of money while sending summons to the homes of young men _ who were eligible for military service _ in Ward No. 1, Pakokku Town, Magway Region, on March 17.
“The ward administrator wants to extort money from houses with young people, saying that 50 million kyats are paid if young people don’t want to join the enforced military service although they are of age at the time of the census of the selection pool. He said 40 million kyats must be paid when the family members _ selected to join the military service in Ward No.1 _ bargained to him,” a resident from Ward No.1 said.
The summons for military service has been distributed in the wards of Pakokku since March 17.
“This targets houses with young people who are of the eligible age for military service. This demanding money is done by the administrator of Ward No.1. I don’t hear the rest of the ward administrators demanding money like this. It is not official yet,” he said.
According to a young resident, some young people in Pakokku who do not want to join the military service are fleeing after distributing summons to military service.
“It’s right. Some have fled. Some are still monitoring the situation. No one wants to join military service. Even if those people have to join, they want to join PDFs,” he said.
The pro-junta ward administrators are distributing summons of military service inside Pakokku town, but the final lottery to join the first batch of military service has not yet been conducted.