Demoso PDF Releases Families of Armed Forces
By Network Media Group
Friday, September 22, 2023
The Demoso People’s Defense Force (PDF) recently released nine family members of a Burma army soldier and two police officers. The civilians were abducted during clashes in Mese Township, Karenni State, about 200 meters from a police station on 16 June.
A PDF member stated that none of the civilians, including children, were harmed during their time in custody. They received regular meals and proper care, and the PDF clarified that the abductions were for the individuals’ own security.
“Our revolution is against the military dictatorship. Their husbands work for the military and the Burma army, and it is why we need to fight them. However, their family members are not our enemies,” the resistance fighter emphasized.
He explained that the wife of the soldier, who is a sergeant in the army, had attempted several times to persuade her husband to defect to the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). However, he refused. The last attempt was made after she was arrested by the PDF.
“She told us that she would try to convince her husband to join the CDM and requested we write a letter,” the fighter said. On the same day of her detainment, the PDF freed her so she can deliver the letter to her husband at the station, but the police commander refused to allow the meeting.
On 23 June, the detained women’s husbands were killed when resistance forces seized the station and a hilltop army camp. Following this, the families did not want to return to their homes, so the armed group kept them, the PDF member mentioned. When they eventually expressed a desire to leave, the group provided some cash for their travel, sending them to a safe place on 18 September, he said.
The PDF, which established a significant commando unit at the beginning of August, is closely collaborating with the main resistance forces in Karenni State.
