Nay Pyi Taw, 6 December
The militar council is becoming too weak to accept deserters, veterans, and those on medical leave due to the ongoing fighting across the country.
On December 3, the military council, which usually takes harsh measures against deserters, announced that deserters who want to return to the military service would be pardoned and accepted at nearby units.
General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson of the military council on 3 December said that if those who were declared absent without leave, if they want to return to duty in the army, they will not be considered as deserters but will be accepted as absent without leave.
The Military Act enacts Section 37 for desertion and abetting and Section 38 for absence without leave, with the perpetrator facing a minimum of two to seven years in prison.
“This situation shows that both the quantity and quality of the army have dwindled significantly, and the army has begun to collapse,” said Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw, a political analyst.
According to ISP-Myanmar, the junta army has engaged in more than 12,200 clashes with the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) that have sprouted up across the country in the nearly three years since the coup.
Furthermore, many regime forces were injured or killed during the battle, and some of them joined the CDM. The Operation 1027 , on the other hand, changed the history of the junta army, forcing more than 200 soldiers from the entire battalion to surrender.
General Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military regime, said that thousands of deserters, veterans, and those who have retired due to health conditions have come to join the army again with the belief that once they have been a soldier, they are soldiers for life.
The military council’s propaganda newspaper reported on December 5 Major General Zaw Min Tun’s statement that elderly former military personnel will be assigned security duties based on their age and health status.
In order to remedy the attrition of soldiers, the military council issued a secret directive warning the battalions to recruit 12 soldiers per year at the rate of at least one new recruit per month and to take action if they fail to do it.
According to CDM miliary officials, there has never been a call from the junta army to accept deserters in the history of the Myanmar army, and this incident demonstrates that the army’s strength has already been completely dwindled.
Currently, the regime troops are under ground attack by the EAOs and PDFs in Northern Shan State, Chin, Karenni and Rakhine States, Sagaing, Karen and Bago and SagaingRegions.
Junt chief General Min Aung Hlaing claimed last week at a military council meeting that his army, which is heavily reliant on air support, is being attacked by outnumberd revolutionary forces during the nationwide conflict.
News-Than Lwin Times
Photo-CJ