Pa Laung Self-Administered Zone

The Palaung Self-Administered Zone (Burmese: ပလောင် ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ ဒေသ [pəlàʊɰ̃ kòbàɪɰ̃ ʔoʊʔtɕʰoʊʔ kʰwɪ̰ɰ̃ja̰ dèθa̰]) is a self-administered zone consisting of two townships in Shan State: Its capital is the town of Namhsan.

Pa Laung Self-Administered Zone ပလောင် ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ ဒေသ
Self-administered zone
Flag
Location in Shan State
Country	Myanmar
State	Shan State
No. of Townships	2
Established	20 August 2010
Capital	Namhsan
Area
• Total	4,015 km² (1,550 sq mi)
Population (2014)
• Total	110,805
• Density	27.60/km² (71.48/sq mi)
Demonym	Palaung
Time zone	UTC+6.30 (MMT)

History

The Pa Laung Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) was created as a separately administered unit by the 2008 Constitution. The Pa Laung SAZ was split off from Kyaukme District and its official name was announced by decree on 20 August 2010. It is to be self-administered by the Palaung people.

During the current Myanmar civil war in December 2023, the zone came under the control of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army during Operation 1027 following their capture of Namhsan and Mantong.

Government and politics

Under the terms of the 2008 Burmese constitution, the Pa Laung Self-Administered Zone should be administered by a Leading Body, which consisted of at least ten members including Shan State Hluttaw (Assembly) members elected from the Zone and members nominated by the Burmese Armed Forces. The Leading Body has both executive and legislative functions and is led by a Chairperson. The Leading Body has competence in ten areas of policy, including urban and rural development, road construction and maintenance, and public health.

Administrative divisions

The zone is divided into two townships that were previously part of Kyaukme District:

Namhsan Township
Mantong Township