Reports from Mandalay Region indicate a sharp escalation in forced recruitment, with approximately 120 individuals reportedly conscripted by military authorities across Meiktila, Thazi, and Pyawbwe townships between January and March 2026.
Data compiled by Mizzima, in coordination with local sources and the People’s Defence Organizations (PDO), reveals a systematic campaign targeting villages such as Tharyarkone, Kyini, and Kwet Nge, where young men are being seized from homes, workshops, and transit gates.
“Even visitors were recruited. Although some could be ransomed back, most were not released. As far as I’ve heard, there have been about 50 people taken this month alone. They take one or two people per village and target places where youth gather. On the 16th, they entered a family business within a large compound in Kyini village and took 11 people,” said a Pyawbwe resident.
Nearly 20 people in Kwet Nge village, over 50 in Kyini village, over 20 in Tharyarkone village, and 23 individuals in Thazi town were forcibly conscripted. The recruitment involved arrests at homes, domestic workshops, and travel transit gates. In Thazi Township, arrests were even reported inside a mosque.
According to residents, “military service fees” ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 Kyats per household are also being collected in these townships. Those recruited from Thazi were previously sent mostly to Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 113 and 315 under the Light Infantry Division 99, however, residents say they do not know which units those recruited have been sent to this year.
Due to the continuous forced recruitment by the junta, revolutionary forces in various areas are offering opportunities for youth to join and coordinate with them instead.
The junta activated the People’s Military Service Law on 10 February 2024. They announced an intake of 5,000 people per batch, and as of March 2026, the recruitment has reached Batch 21.
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