The IDPs had taken refuge in a Wa-controlled area, and were reportedly ordered by the Burma Army to go back to Mongpan.

More than 300 internally displaced people (IDPs) returned home to southern Shan State’s Mongpan Township on Friday, according to locals.

The people, from three communities in the Ner Moon village tract on Pangpi Mountain, had fled to the Thai-Burma border because of rising military tension between armed groups in the area. Since early January, they have stayed in Ner Kawng Muu village tract in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army, east of the Salween River.

On January 16, SHAN reported that the Burma Army’s Central-East Command called on Wa forces to cooperate with the military and return the IDPs to their home.

“There are 309 people. They left Ner Kawng Muu village [Thursday] morning. They had lunch in Mongton town. Then they were sent to the Tasang Bridge [on the Salween River]. They slept for a night in Infantry Battalion 294,” said Mongpan local Sai Lon, a volunteer working with the IDPs.

On Friday morning, a military command based in Langkhur Township picked up the IDPs in 12 vehicles, he added.

“The IDPs returned home in fear. I don’t know what will happen,” Sai Lon said.

Mongpan is home to a mix of ethnic Shan and Pa-O communities. Those who left the area said that they were afraid of rising military tension between the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army and the Pa-O National Liberation Army, as well as the possibility of forced recruitment. Both Shan and Pa-O monasteries have been burned down recently.