Burma’s ruling military coup junta is planning to create a force of armed civilian volunteers to fight the popular resistance that has taken up arms against the army since the February 2021 coup d’état.
According to activists quoted by the opposition-linked ‘Irrawaddy’ newspaper, this new directive will train those over the age of 18 to possess up to five different types of firearms, including handguns and hunting rifles.
These «militias» will receive this permission from the Ministry of Interior while the Burmese Army will provide additional firearms training for all civilians who wish it.
Opposition lawyers are convinced that these civilians will be mostly retired military personnel and avowed supporters of the junta.
«Ordinary people will not be allowed to carry guns,» explains one lawyer, in what is a policy that replicates that ordered in 1977 by the military dictator Ne Win, suspended eleven years later with the arrival of democracy in the Asian country.
According to opposition activists from the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners, a total of 2,986 people have died since the coup and 13,884 are still detained by the military.
The Government in exile, for its part, has accused the Burmese Army of the death of 110 civilians, including a dozen children, during the hostilities in January.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
