Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlpakistan



Pakistan <![CDATA[Despite clear evidence to the contrary, Pakistan has repeatedly affirmed that it “faces no problem of uncleared mines.” It has also stated “mines have never caused humanitarian concerns in Pakistan, despite having fought three wars with India and…[a] military standoff during 2001–2002.” The evidence that Pakistan is affected by both mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) includes the occurrence of mine/ERW casualties during 2007 and 2008.

Pakistan has declared that mines it laid on the Indo-Pakistan border during the 2001–2002 stand-off with India “have been completely cleared.” It has also claimed that “minefields laid along the LoC are properly fenced and clearly marked to impose requisite caution on civilians living in the surrounding areas.” However, inhabitants of Pakistani-administered Kashmir report consistently that some areas along the LoC are still contaminated and have not been properly fenced by the militaries of either India or Pakistan. Inhabitants of Garhi Sher Khan in Poonch district, for example, informed Landmine Monitor that villages on both sides of the LoC were contaminated by mines and ERW, and that rainfall caused mines to drift from areas on the Indian side that were at a higher altitude.

The government has acknowledged that a mine problem does exist from mines left by Soviet troops on the Pakistan-Afghan border. Contamination dates from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–1989), when mines were scattered by Soviet and Afghan forces from helicopters and the mujahideen used mines to protect their bases in the tribal areas. The government also acknowledges that “in the ongoing war on terror, the terrorists have several times used mines and improvised explosive devices against army personnel and civil administration.”

In North and South Waziristan, local inhabitants told Landmine Monitor during field research in 2007 and 2008 that NSAGs, including Taliban and tribal armed elements, continued to use former mujahideen bases, and that the area around these camps was contaminated with mines emplaced by the NSAGs as well as by mines dating back to the Afghan-Soviet war.

In Balochistan, areas believed to be mined include Barkhan, Dera Bugti, Jafarabad, Kohlu, Nasirabad, and Rait. Other areas which have had a mine problem include Chamalang and Mekhter (see below), near the Loralai district border, which are affected by Baloch and Pushtun tribal disputes over coal resources. Kirbag, the homeland of the Marri Balochi tribe, is also said to be mine-affected. Mines were reportedly planted by NSAGs near insurgent camps and along roads, including 160km of road from Modh to Kahaan. The sides of roads leading to coal mines in Indus, Margat, Maror, and Marwar in Bolan district were said to be mined as of early 2006. In February 2006, a district coordination officer warned people against traveling on roads in Dera Bugti until mines could be cleared. The government then started demining operations and cleared most of the affected areas.

In 2007, there were at least 271 new casualties from 198 mine, ERW and victim-activated IED incidents in Pakistan, including 89 people killed and 182 injured. Within this total, media monitoring by SPADO and the Community Appraisal Motivation Program (CAMP) identified 198 and 207 (partly overlapping) casualties respectively. Landmine Monitor identified 25 additional casualties.

Most of the casualties were civilian (177) and 94 were security forces. Almost three-quarters of the casualties were men (199 including all the military casualties), 13 were women, 12 boys, four girls, and 43 unknown. Victim-activated IEDs were the main cause of casualties (91), followed by antivehicle mines (80), antipersonnel mines (52), unspecified mines (32), ERW (10), and unknown devices (six). Traveling was the most common activity at the time of the incident (177). Most casualties occurred in Balochistan (100), FATA (94), and the NWFP (46).

Analysis of casualty information collected by CAMP and SPADO showed that they also recorded casualties from command-detonated explosions. SPADO identified 62 casualties from 27 such incidents and CAMP recorded 204 casualties from 24 incidents.

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