The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) is detaining parents and only releasing them once their sons sign up to become SSPP/SSA soldiers.

SSPP/SSA troops stationed in Namtu Township abducted parents with sons in Mongyen Village Tract in early December 2024. It has been holding them captive for over a month and says it will only release them when their sons agree to join the SSPP/SSA, according to a family member of one of the detained parents.

He said: “The SSPP/SSA carried out conscription drives in Mongyen, forcibly taking away some elderly people without any explanation, and they have not been released since. The group primarily targeted parents with two or three sons. A small number of individuals from each village in the village tract were arrested, though the exact number remains unknown.”

The SSPP/SSA have kept the abducted parents incommunicado and have not let their families talk to them. Amongst the abducted are women over 50 years of age.

SHAN reached out multiple times by phone to SSPP/SSA spokespersons, Colonel Sai Su and Major Sai Phone Han, to ask them about local allegations that the group is abducting elderly people and coercing their sons into joining the SSPP/SSA in exchange for the parents’ release, but they received no response.

The SSPP/SSA is also forcing the abducted parents to undergo military training in Mongyen Village Tract, even the elderly ones. This has raised concerns amongst the family members of detainees suffering from underlying health conditions.

The family member of another detainee said to SHAN: “Some families have offered to hire outsiders as replacements for those forcibly dragged away for the military service, but the SSPP/SSA rejected these offers. It insists that for the father to be released, the son must agree to serve. This is a concerning situation for adults with underlying health conditions. In some cases, parents were released because their sons agreed to substitute themselves for military service.”

Namtu Township was captured by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in late December 2023 during the first phase of Operation 1027. However, the SSPP/SSA and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are also active in the TNLA-controlled township.

Until now the SSPP/SSA and another major Shan ethnic armed organisation (EAO), the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), have remained neutral in the revolution and have not fought against the junta.

But since the junta activated the conscription law on 10 February 2024 both the SSPP/SSA and RCSS/SSA have been urging Shan people to join their ranks and initiated recruitment drives in several townships.