The military council is reportedly threatening and compelling government employees and local residents from various townships in Magway Region to attend the Man Shwesettaw Pagoda Festival in Minbu Township. The festival, which runs for 75 days from February 2 to April 17, has seen low attendance, prompting the military council to issue special directives to the Magway Region military authorities to increase public participation at all costs.
According to sources, the Magway Region military council has ordered government employees and their families to attend the festival in groups organized by township and department. They are providing travel expenses and transportation arrangements, along with special leave for staff members. A schoolteacher from Magway city confirmed that departments are being assigned specific dates for mandatory attendance. Additionally, residents of villages in Minbu Township are being forcibly gathered through ward administrators, hundred-household heads, and ten-household heads, who are compiling lists of attendees under military council orders.
Despite constructing more than 300 accommodation rooms and over 350 shop stalls for the festival, the military council has faced significantly low attendance at the Man Shwesettaw Pagoda Festival. This has led to the forced mobilization of local civilians through the General Administration Department’s directives. Township, village, and ward administrative bodies have been tasked with systematically organizing public attendance, with threats of consequences for non-compliance. The military council’s desperate measures to create an appearance of normalcy at the religious festival highlight their continued use of coercion against civilians and government employees in the region.
