Residents of Hopong Township say they have yet to receive justice over land confiscated through alleged collusion between the Pa-O National Organization (PNO) militia and land brokers.

Since the second week of February, PNO-backed land brokers have labeled more than 200 households in Nyaung Vet Village as squatters, seized their land and pressured them to relocate. Under pressure from the military regime and the PNO, residents were forced to vacate their homes entirely by the end of May and relocate to the Phayar Phyu area of Hopong Township.

Although authorities claimed the new location was provided as replacement land, displaced residents said they were forced to pay the full market value for the plots. They also said those whose original land was confiscated have received no justice.

“The land is being exploited by the PNO and brokers. As locals without power, we just have to accept it. Even for the replacement land they provided, we had to pay the going market rate just to live there. Because armed groups are involved, nobody dares to do anything about it. Justice is practically impossible under these conditions,” a Hopong resident told SHAN.

While some families managed to pay for replacement plots, wealthier residents chose to relocate permanently to the town center. Despite having their land confiscated, residents said they were also forced to pay 500,000 kyats per household to the PNO and land brokers for permission to dismantle and move their own homes.

Adding to their grievances over the land seizures, local farmers are facing severe financial hardship after their cornfields were destroyed by natural disasters and the accidental misuse of herbicide.

“On top of having our houses and land seized, the corn we planted completely died. The plants rotted and died because of a mix-up involving corn herbicide, affecting almost the entire village. The chemical company blamed the farmers and walked away. There was no compensation whatsoever,” the resident added.

In addition to the chemical damage, heavy flooding destroyed the remaining cornfields, leaving farmers facing severe financial hardship.

Historical records show that nearly 20,000 acres of land along the Hopong-Loilen highway were originally confiscated by the military in 1992. Although the military regime transferred the land back to local residents through the PNO in 2015, the militia reportedly withheld the properties from the original owners, instead dividing the land into plots and selling them through private brokers.