Pa'O Self-Administered Zone

The Pa'O Self-Administered Zone (Burmese: ပအိုဝ်းကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရဒေသ; paaow kopine aotehkyaote hkwng r days) also abbreviated as Pa'O SAZ, as stipulated by the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, is a self-administered zone consisting of three townships in Shan State. ^[2][3]

Pa-O Self-Administered Zone ပအိုဝ်းကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရဒေသ ပအိုဝ်ႏနမ်းပဲင်ႏအိုပ်ချုတ်ခွင်ꩻလꩻဒေႏသ
Self-administered zone
Headquarters of the Leading Body
Flag
Location in Shan State
Country	Myanmar
State	Shan State
No. of Townships	3
Capital	Hopong
Area
• Total	8,386 km2 (3,238 sq mi)
Elevation	1,079 m (3,541 ft)
Population  (2008)[1]
• Total	380,427
• Density	45/km2 (120/sq mi)
Demonym	Pa'O
Time zone	UTC+6.30 (MMT)

History

Pa'O SAZ's official name was announced by decree on 20 August 2010.^[4]

In the wake of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and ensuing civil war, Pa'O youths, like many throughout the country, formed and joined resistance forces like the Pa-O National Defence Force, in opposition to military rule.^[5][6]

On 24 February 2023, fighting began in Pinlaung Township, forcing more than 5,000 villagers to flee, including most villagers from Namneng.^[7][8] On 11 March 2023, the village of Namneng became the site of the Pinlaung massacre, during which Myanmar Army troops killed at least 30 civilians, including 3 Buddhist monks.^[9]

Government and politics

The zone is currently under the de facto control of the Pa-O National Organisation.

Headquarters of the Leading Body at Hopong

Administrative divisions

townships of Pa'O SAZ

  Hsi Hseng Township

  Hopong Township

  Pinlaung Township

The Zone is divided into three townships- Hopong Township, Hsi Hseng Township and Pinlaung Township.