The Shan State Joint Action Committee (SSJAC) on October 23 strongly condemned the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) for coercive threats and domination affecting the fundamental rights and cultures of ethnic groups in northern Shan State.

In its statement, SSJAC said it understood and accepted the temporary replacement of administrative mechanisms to maintain peace, stability and the rule of law in areas brought under territorial control during military operations. However, it strongly opposed the MNDAA’s current actions, saying they severely undermine the fundamental rights of local residents.

SSJAC said the MNDAA was forcing the use of a language unfamiliar to and rarely spoken by most local residents in official communications and public places. It also accused the group of forcibly altering and confiscating existing land ownership arrangements that local people had maintained for generations, without obtaining the consent of the community.

The committee further stated that the MNDAA’s land law and other administrative regulations were allowing foreigners to enter the region without restrictions and creating direct and indirect means for them to acquire land ownership. It also accused the group of forcibly replacing historically established names of towns and villages, as well as public signs, with names and languages unrelated to local cultures. SSJAC said local residents who peacefully opposed these measures were being arrested, suppressed and threatened, in blatant violations of their citizenship rights and freedom of expression.

The committee said the systematic and coercive implementation of these measures directly violated not only its “Manifesto of Peaceful Coexistence,” issued on February 14, 2022, which it said it had firmly embraced and upheld, but also the fundamental principles of the federal union system it aspired to establish.

It further warned that the measures were seriously undermining local residents’ fundamental human rights, including land ownership rights, while fostering misunderstandings and eroding trust among ethnic communities living in the region, potentially escalating unwanted ethnic conflicts. SSJAC therefore called for the immediate cessation of the forced changes imposed against the wishes of local communities. It warned that if the objections were ignored and the measures continued, it would take strong political and social action to protect the history, culture, interests and right to existence of local residents.