Interview
Border News Agency
Mrauk-U, July 1.

The Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government is currently implementing the National Defense Emergency Provision.

This process is being led by the government’s political and regional leaders, who are selecting individuals for military service through a lottery-based system.

A local resident of Arakan shared this account of the situation.

“They are recruiting single men,” the resident said. “People generally don’t want to include single men and women in the lottery selection.”

“In my household, there are some younger men who previously served in the military, but they haven’t been asked to go again.”

“Some of them are looking for after elderly family members and people with health issues. These include individuals with chronic illnesses, and there’s no one else to care for them.”

“They’re serving alone. If there are others in the household, someone else is assigned instead. But for those living alone, they haven’t been included in the lottery yet.”

“I heard all of this firsthand. It was shared by AA officers, including majors, colonels, township officials, and regional administrators. I attended the meetings where they mainly talked about conscription and military assignments.”

“They’re selecting one person per village. Anyone who is exempt will be removed from the list, and the remaining eligible individuals will be chosen through a lottery system.”

“Those working in education or healthcare are not being recruited.”

“They are conscripting males between the ages of 18 and 40.”

“Right now, they’re not recruiting married men yet. As for those around 40 years old, they said they’ll be called up later, but not at this stage.”

“There’s a lot of anxiety in the village. People are saying things like, ‘Don’t include my son, don’t include theirs.’ No one wants their children to be conscripted. They don’t agree with it.”

“As for us, being called up for military service doesn’t really hold any meaning. Once they issue orders, we just have to submit the names of those selected in the lottery list. That’s how we see it.”

“They’ve made it clear we believe we’ll have to serve. We don’t think we’ll be exempt.”

“Even if someone isn’t chosen this week, they might be next week. They’ve said that eventually, everyone who is of eligible age will have to fulfill their duty.”

“It’s not just for one year,” the resident explained. “If someone finishes their service this year, new ones will be called up next year. They said we’ll have to attend two months of training and then serve two years in the military. After completing those two years, we’ll be released.”

“But if someone is genuinely interested, they can choose to stay on. They said they’ll assign roles based on individual qualifications and rank. Those with educational qualifications will be evaluated and placed accordingly during training.”

“They’re not calling us up just to go and fight. The recruitment is happening across the entire Ponakyun Township,” the resident added.