Another Militia Unit For Khun Sa

Another Militia Unit For Khun Sa 

The ailing Khun Sa has been allowed by Rangoon to set up yet another militia unit in eastern Shan State, reported S.H.A.N.'s correspondent from the border. 

In mid-March, Pan Maung a.k.a. Chen Kuan-tai, a close aide of Khun Sa's chief-of-staff, Falang a.k.a. Chang Hsu-chuan, arrived in Tachilek, opposite Maesai, Chiangrai Province, from Rangoon with his family. His assignment was to organize a new militia unit in Paliao Kenglarb area along the Mekhong opposite northern Laos, they said. 

700 acres in the area had recently been confiscated by the local authorities and handed over to Pan Maung. As a result, many farmers had lost their lands, they said. 

Pan Maung, who claims to be a nephew of Sao Hsowan, a late resistance fighter who was known for his extraordinary valor, has been the managing director of Chang Hsu-chuan's San Shwe Company with its head office at the building that used to be the Nawaday cinema hall in Rangoon. 

He is reported to have set up Sein San Shwe Service, a subsidiary firm to San Shwe. 

"Since his arrival, Pan Maung has been busy meeting old MTA-colleagues to persuade them to serve as recruiting officers for the militia unit," one said. 

The unit, after establishment, would come under the command of Zarmhurng a.k.a Chang Weikang, Khun Sa's second son who has already made Tachilek his home since the Mong Tai Army's surrender in 1996. 

Other units under the nominal command of Khun Sa but believed to be run by his chief-of-staff are Loimaw-Wanparng (commanded by Bo Mon) and Mongha-Monghaeng (commanded by Ma Kuowen) in the north and Homong under Mahaja. "All are known to be long time loyal followers of Khun Sa," said a source. 

The Homong militia is the group's latest acquisition. "Rangoon is aiming to counter both the Shan resistance and the ceasefire groups including the Was with militias that will serve the junta's cause," commented a ceasefire group commander, who added that apart from Khun Sa's counter-insurgency units, there are also two others, reported to be well equipped and well-armed, commanded by Duwa Jaygawng in Hpawngseng and by a Chinese in Longhtang near Hsenwi. Both of them were reported to have followed Senior Gen. Than Shwe since he was a battalion commander there. 

"All of them are given laissez-faire in drugs," he said.