Landmine Monitor Report 2004:

This is the sixth Landmine Monitor report, the annual product of an unprecedented initiative by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) to monitor and report on implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and more generally, to assess the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis caused by landmines. For the first time in history, non-governmental organizations have come together in a coordinated, systematic and sustained way to monitor a humanitarian law or disarmament treaty, and to regularly document progress and problems, thereby successfully putting into practice the concept of civil society-based verification.

Five previous annual reports have been released since 1999, each presented to the annual meetings of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty: in May 1999 in Maputo, Mozambique; in September 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland; in September 2001 in Managua, Nicaragua; in September 2002 in Geneva; and in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2003.

The Landmine Monitor system features a global reporting network and an annual report. A network of 110 Landmine Monitor researchers from 93 countries gathered information to prepare this report. The researchers come from the ICBL’s campaigning coalition and also from other elements of civil society, including journalists, academics and research institutions. .

Landmine Monitor is not a technical verification system or a formal inspection regime. It is an attempt by civil society to hold governments accountable to the obligations they have taken on with respect to antipersonnel mines. This is done through extensive collection, analysis and distribution of publicly available information. Although in some cases it does entail investigative missions, Landmine Monitor is not designed to send researchers into harm’s way and does not include hot war-zone reporting.
Landmine Monitor is designed to complement the States Parties transparency reporting required under Article 7 of the Mine Ban Treaty. It reflects the shared view that transparency, trust and mutual collaboration are crucial elements of the successful eradication of antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor was also established in recognition of the need for independent reporting and evaluation.
Landmine Monitor and its annual reports aim to promote and advance discussion on mine-related issues, and to seek clarifications, in order to help reach the goal of a mine-free world. Landmine Monitor works in good faith to provide factual information about issues it is monitoring, in order to benefit the international community as a whole.
Landmine Monitor Report 2004 contains information on every country in the world with respect to landmine ban policy, use, production, transfer, stockpiling, mine action funding, mine clearance, mine risk education, landmine casualties, and survivor assistance. It does not only report on States Parties and their treaty obligations, but looks at signatory states and non-signatories as well. Appendices with information from key players in mine action, such as UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, are also included.
As was the case in previous years, Landmine Monitor acknowledges that this ambitious report has its shortcomings. The Landmine Monitor is a system that is continuously updated, corrected and improved. Comments, clarifications, and corrections from governments and others are sought, in the spirit of dialogue and in the common search for accurate and reliable information on a difficult subject.

LANDMINES FACTS

Anti-personnel landmines are indiscriminate killers - they do not discriminate between a combatant and a non-combatant, child or adult, in times of war or during peace, after the wars are long over.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was founded in 1991 calls for an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines, and for increased international resources for humanitarian mine clearance and mine victim assistance program. Due to the untiring and tremendous efforts of ICBL and its member organizations the Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in very short period became international law.
· Antipersonnel mines cannot be aimed: they do not distinguish between the footfall of a soldier or a child.
· They lie dormant until a person or animal triggers their detonating mechanism.
· Then, landmines kill or injure civilians, soldiers, peacekeepers and aid workers alike.
· Mine deaths and injuries over the past decades now total in the hundreds of thousands.
· It is estimated that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 new casualties caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance each year. That means there are some 1,500 new casualties each month, more than 40 new casualties a day, at least two new casualties per hour.
· Most of the casualties are civilians and most live in countries that are now at peace.
· Landmines deprive people in some of the poorest countries of land and infrastructure.
· Once there is peace most soldiers will be demobilized and give in their guns, mines however don't recognize a cease-fire.
· Assistance to landmine survivors can be an enormous strain on resources.
· Landmine casualties deprive communities and families of breadwinners.
· Mines also kill livestock and wild animals and wreak environmental havoc.
· Every region in the world is mine-affected.
· More than 80 countries are affected to some degree by landmines and/or unexploded ordnance.
Join SPADO to relieve miseries of poor and innocent landmines victims’ and for a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel landmines.

PAKISTAN

Key developments since May 2003: Pakistan reported in November 2003 that it had cleared about 99 percent of the mines it laid in December 2001and early 2002 on its border with India. The government is paying compensation to mine survivors and the families of those killed by landmines as a result of the conflict. Pakistan also reported that it was assisting with demining operations in Lebanon, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Pakistani armed forces seized antipersonnel mines and other weapons in Baluchistan Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The government claims the weapons were being smuggled by non-state actors form Afghanistan into Pakistan. There were some instances of antivehicle landmines and improvised explosive devices being used in tribal conflicts and against government law enforcement agencies, most notably in Baluchistan. In 2003, the community motivation and development organization provided mine risk education to 38,734 people in Kurram Agency. Landmine incidents continued to occur in 2003 and 2004 in all four provinces of Pakistan. In 2003, there were at least 138 new landmine / UXO casualties.
Key developments since 1999: During the escalation of tensions with India that began in December 2001, Pakistani forces engaged in a massive mine-laying operation, which continued until mid-2002. Reports of civilian casualties in Pakistan following the mine-laying call into question the effectiveness of the measures taken to protect civilians. Pakistan stated in November 2003 that it had cleared 99 percent of the mines it laid in the operation. Pakistan-backed militants, and allegedly Pakistan army troops, made extensive use of antipersonnel mines in the conflict in the Kargil area of Kashmir in mid-1999. There were allegations of Pakistani-manufactured mines being supplied to the militants. There were reports of attempts by state owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories to sell antipersonnel mines to British journalists posing as representatives of private companies in both November 1999 and April 2002. Pakistan’s 1997 moratorium on export of antipersonnel mines became a legally binding ban in February 1999. Pakistan ratified CCW Amended Protocol II on 9 March 1999, exercising the nine-year deferral period. Pakistan is modifying its stockpile of low metal content mines to take them detectable. Pakistan is producing both new detectable hand emplaced antipersonnel mines and new remotely delivered mines.
From August to December 2000, the Community Motivation and Development Organization carried out the first assessment mission in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and collected data on landmine casualties in the Bajaur Agency. It launched the first mine awareness program in August 2000. By the end of 2003, it had provided mine risk education to 97,664 people. Handicap International provided mine risk education in Afghan refugee camps in Baluchistan Province from October 2001 to January 2003, and the Italian NGO Intersos from January 2001 to June 2002. Several NGOs have implemented programs to assist mine survivors and other persons with disabilities. Landmine incidents in border area with India and Afghanistan continue to be reported. From 2000 to 2003, Landmine Monitor has reported at least 428 new landmine/UXO casualties.

 

MINE BAN POLICY
The Islamic republic of Pakistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. There has been little change in government policy regarding a ban in the past five years. Pakistan has repeatedly stated that the use of landmines is part of its self-defense strategy and it opposes a ban until viable alternatives are developed. At the same time, Pakistan recognizes the negative human and socio-economic impact of landmines, and has consistently expressed its support for the goal of the eventual elimination of antipersonnel landmines. As recently as November 2003, Pakistan spoke of “achieving our ultimate goal to clean the earth form the scourge of landmines of all kinds”. During a United Nations Security Council discussion in late 2003 on the importance of mine action for peacekeeping operations, Pakistan said that “we need to include mine-laying prevention and mine clearance as essential objectives in conflict situations… Prevention in this case, as usual, is better than the cure, and it could be an objective that we could pursue in the context of the peacekeeping operations…”
Pakistan attended the Ottawa Process meetings and the treaty negotiations in 1997, but only as an observer. Pakistan has abstained from voting on every pro-ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including UNGA Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003. Pakistan has not attended any of the annual meetings of the State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty ad has rarely taken part in the intersessional work program. It did not attend the Standing Committee meetings in February and June 2004.
Pakistan ratified Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) on 9 March 1999 and indicated it would exercise the option to defer implementation of key provisions for a nine-year period. Pakistan participated in the fifth annual conference of states parties to amended protocol II in November 2003 and submitted its annual report required by Article 13. Pakistan believes that Protocol II “strikes the right balance between the legitimate security concerns of the States Parties and humanitarian considerations…”
Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO,) a member of the International campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), launched the Landmine Monitor Report 2003 in Peshawar on 9 September 2003. At the release, the Deputy High Commissioner of Canada called upon non-signatory countries to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty. The release was reported in nearly all the leading newspapers of Pakistan. Other campaign initiatives included the seminar “Towards a Landmine Free World” held on 1 March 2004 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty, with participation by representatives of media, politics, and academia, as well as schoolchildren and mine survivors.

PRODUCTION

Pakistan is a producer of antipersonnel mines. State-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), founded in 1951, in the past produced six types of antipersonnel mines two-minimum-metal blast mines (P2Mk2 and P4Mk2), two bounding fragmentation mines (P3Mk2 and P7Mk1), and two directional fragmentation (Claymore-type) mines (P5Mk1 and P5Mk2). After I January 1997, POF began production of new, detectable versions of the hand-emplaced blast mines and of new remotely-delivered antipersonnel mines with self-destruct and self-deactivating mechanisms. Pakistan has reported that all of the technical requirements of CCW Amended protocol II “have been accordingly included at the development, production and the user level.” The private sector is not allowed to participate either in manufacturing or trade of landmines.

TRANSFER

Pakistan declared a complete moratorium on export of antipersonnel mines in 1997, but has sated that in practice it has not exported “since early 1992.” The moratorium became a legally binding ban through statutory regulatory order No. 123 (1) of 25 February 1999, and “its effective implementation is being ensured through well laid down ‘Export Control Procedures.’
In the past Pakistan was a major exporter. Pakistani mines are found in Afghanistan. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and other locations. There were allegations of Pakistani-manufactured mines beings supplied to armed groups fighting in the Kargil region of India-administered Kashmir in 1999. The Joint Staff Headquarters strongly denied this allegation. There were also reports of attempts by POF to sell antipersonnel mines to British journalists posing as representatives of private companies in both November 1999 and April 2002.
During the current Landmine Monitor reporting period, Pakistani armed forces seized antipersonnel mines and other weapons in Baluchistan province and the federally administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The government claims the arms were being smuggled by non-state actors form Afghanistan into Pakistan. On 15 September 2003, the Frontier Corps in Baluchistan seized 109 antipersonnel landmines and 23 antivehicle mines. Landmines, mainly antivehicle mines, were also seized in October 2003 in South Waziristan and in August 2003 in Quetta and Loralai.

STOCKPILING

There is no official information on the size of Pakistan’s stockpile. Since 2000, Landmine Monitor has estimated that Pakistan holds at least six million antipersonnel mines in stockpile, based on discussions with a senior Pakistani official. This constitutes the fifth largest stockpile in the world. The government has neither confirmed nor denied the number. It is not known how the size of the stockpile has changed with new production of antipersonnel mines and with Pakistan’s extensive use of antipersonnel mines in 2001 and 2002.
Pakistan is modifying its existing stock of low-metal-content antipersonnel mines to make them conform to the detectability requirement of Amended Protocol II.

USE

During the current Landmine Monitor reporting period (since May 2003), landmines and improvised explosive devices have been used in tribal conflicts and against government law enforcement agencies, most notably in the province of Baluchistan. Paramilitary forces and tribal police guarding the country’s main gas pipeline have been the target of landmine attacks by tribesmen who want the government to increase payments for the land use rights. In August 2003, 10 people guarding the Sui-gas pipeline were injured and two killed by Landmines in two incidents on the Baluchistan-Punjab provincial border. In the same area in November 2003, one Frontier Corps Officer and his driver were wounded in a Landmine Blast. A Frontier Corps man was killed in a mine blast in the Loralai area in January 2004. In June 2004, a Landmine blew up a minibus carrying tribal policemen and other passengers in Kolhu-Baluchistan, killing two people and wounding three others. Most incidents in these area are caused by Antivehicle mines. The use of Landmines has also been reported in the past year (and previous years) in other tribal areas of Pakistan including Bajaur, Khyber, Mohmand, Waziristan and Kurram Agencies.
During the escalation of tensions with India that began in December 2001, Pakistani forces engaged in a massive mine-laying operation, which continued until mid-2002. Initially the government was reluctant to acknowledge the mine-laying; its public statements and its Amended Protocol II reports for 2001 and 2002 made no mention of mine-laying or subsequent clearance activities. However, Pakistan’s November 2003 Amended protocol II report referred to mines “laid along the Eastern border during escalation” and stated that about 99 percent had been cleared. The government also admitted using mines in a March 2003 letter to the PCBL and a July 2003 letter to Landmine Monitor. The latter refers to “defensive minefields” and states, “Please note that all measures were taken strictly in accordance with our commitments and in line with our national legal obligations precluding any problems for civilian population,”. The ICBL expressed concern that reports of civilian casualties in Pakistan following the mine-laying called into question the effectiveness of the measures taken to protect civilians.
Pakistan’s November 2003 Amended Protocol II indicates a willingness to use mines in the future as well: “Civilians residing in contiguous area of Indo/Pak border, likely to be mined during any future escalation…”
There were reports of use of mines by Pakistani troops in Kashmir during the Kargil crisis in 1999. Pakistan maintains permanently laid minefields along certain portions of the line of control in Kashmir. Pakistan used Landmines during its three wars with India in 1947, 1965 and 1971. It asserts that it cleared all minefields after each war.

LANDMINE PROBLEM

In its November 2003 Amended Protocol II report, Pakistan states that the problem of landmines in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the border with Afghanistan still persists, while minefields on its border with India “are properly fenced and clearly marked to impose caution on civilians living in the surrounding areas.”
Landmine incidents continued to occur in 2003 and 2004 in all four provinces of Pakistan. Due to lack of effective reporting mechanisms and surveys the scale of the landmine problem and total number of casualties are not fully known. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, especially the Bajaur and Kurram tribal areas, are the most mine-affected. This region has been contaminated with landmines since the outbreak of the USSR Afghanistan war in December 1979. Landmines were scattered by helicopters by soviet and Afghan Forces to interdict various Mujahideen factions, while Mujahideen used mines to protect their bases in the tribal area. A household survey conducted by the NGO Human Survival and Development (HSD) from August 2000 to August 2001 reported that mines have the most frequent impact on agriculture and grazing land, non-agricultural land used for collecting firewood, irrigation, roads and paths.
With respect to the impact of the mine-laying operations on the Indian border in 2001 and 2002, the government told a National Assembly session in April 2004 that there had been a total of 150 civilians casualties to mines in the border areas. Landmines casualties have been reported in the districts of Bahawalpur, Kasur, Sialkot, and Multan – all on the border with India – and the Sindh – Baluchistan border. One press account indicated that in Sialkot district, thousands of poor farmers were unable to cultivate the seasonal crops for several years. There have also been civilian casualties in areas along the Line of Control in Kashmir where both India and Pakistan have laid mines.

MINE CLEARANCE AND ASSISTANCE

In November 2003, Pakistan reported that approximately 99 percent of the mines laid in the eastern border with India have been lifted. It indicated that inspection to ensure 100 percent clearance was still in progress. It also stated that minefields not completely cleared are properly marked to ensure the safety of the local population.
Pakistan contributed to mine action operations in Afghanistan (1989-91), Kuwait (post-1991 Gulf War), Cambodia (1992-93), Angola (1995-98), Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Western Sahara, mostly as part of the UN peacekeeping contingents. In November 2003 Pakistan said that it was assisting with demining operation in Lebanon, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The NGO Community Motivation and Development Organization (CMDO) carried out a pilot mine clearance project in Bar Gabarary village in Bajaur Agency in the first quarter of 2003, with the financial assistance of Association for Aid and Relief (AAR), Japan. CMDO reported it assessed 3,083 square meters of agricultural land, but found no mines. CMDO carried out a project that included mine risk education and survivor assistance in Bajaur Agency from March 2000 to March 2003.
Some villagers of Bajaur Agency use their own metal detectors to check pathways or places suspected to be mine-contaminated for their families’ safety.

MINE RISK EDUCATION

In its 2003 Amended Protocol II report, Pakistan stated that civilians residing in the India-Pakistan border area, where mines are likely to be used, “are educated on the mines, minefields and the safety precautions to be undertaken, if they come across a mined area.” It is not known what type of activity has been conducted to inform the population.
In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, CMDO has conducted mine risk education since 2000, reaching a total of 97,664 people. During 2003, 34,706 children and 4,028 adults attended MRE sessions. CMDO, which operated as Human Survival and Development until May 2002, launched its first MRE program in the Bajaur tribal area in August 2000. In 2000, it reached 74,076 people in 147 villages. In 2001 it trained 18,059 people. In 2002, it provided MRE to 20,795 people, and also introduced a community-based approach, training 812 volunteers. The Swiss Foundation for Landmine Victims Aid, which funded CMDO’s program FATA, suspended its support to CMDO in April 2003.
On 1 January 2003, Handicap international (HI) terminated its MRE program in Afghan refugee camps in Baluchistan province. The MRE program was established in three refugee camps in October 2001. In 2002, HI provided MRE in eight Afghan Refugee Camps in Baluchistan for a total of 243,719 Afghan refugees. In addition, 414 Afghan refugees were trained as volunteer MRE trainers.
The Italian NGO Intersos provided MRE in Afghan refugee camps from January 2001 to June 2002.

LANDMINE CASUALTIES

In 2003, there were at least 138 new landmine /UXO casualties in Pakistan, including 48 people killed and 90 injured; 85 were civilians, including 14 children and 11 women. SPADO recorded casualties in four provinces, the tribal areas, and Azad Kashmir: 23 casualties in Punjab province; 55 in Baluchistan; five in Sindth province; 46 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; and nine in Kashmir. Casualties in 2003 include an Afghan refugee who lost both her legs above the knee after stepping on a landmine in Bajaur Agency.
Reported casualties have increased over the past few years. However, this increase may be due in part to improved data collection mechanisms in the mine-affected areas. Between 2000 and 2002, Landmine Monitor reported at least 290 new Landmine/UXO casualties: at least 136 (83 killed and at least 53 injured) in 2002; 92 (28 killed and 64 injured) in 2001; and 62 casualties in 2000. In April 2004, the National Assembly was informed that 150 mine casualties had occurred in the border areas of Lahore, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Sindh and Kasur during the military standoff with India, including 23 people killed and 99 who lost limbs. The time period of the incidents was not specified.
Casualties continue to be reported in 2004. Between January and June, 32 new landmine casualties (five people killed 27 injured) were reported in the media, including a woman who was killed after stepping on a landmine while harvesting her wheat crop. In two other incidents in Kurram Agency in June, a farmer stepped on a landmine and lost his right leg below the knee, and three children, aged five, seven and nine, were injured after tampering with a landmine.
There is no comprehensive reporting system in the country and therefore a large number of casualties are likely to remain unreported. The Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines started collecting data on landmine / UXO casualties in September 1997 form various sources, including newspapers, Tribal Agency Headquarter Hospitals, the Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled, the community Motivation and Development Organization database on the Bajaur tribal area, and team visits to mine-affected area. PCBL identified 1,038 landmine/UXO casualties (377 killed, 566 injured and 95 unknown) between 1980 and 2002; 71 percent are male and 29 percent female.
In September 2003, seven Pakistani nationals were reportedly killed after stepping on landmines while trying to enter Greece illegally. Five Pakistani nationals were killed in Iran, near the border with Pakistan, in December 2002 after their vehicle hit a landmine.

SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE

There are no specialized medical, surgical or first aid facilities for landmine casualties close to the mine-affected areas. Casualties are transferred to hospitals in large cities mostly by private vehicles, or in some cases, by ambulances. Civilians must cover the costs of medicine, treatment, and transport. Military personnel have access to separate services free-of-charge in Combined Military Hospitals (CMH). Afghan mine survivors residing in Pakistan also use the Pakistani medical infrastructure, which adds an additional strain in an already overpopulated country.
In Bajaur Agency, the district hospital is only capable of providing basic first aid, and in some cases there is a problem arranging transport for the mine casualty. In 2002, the Rescue Operation of Islamic Relief UK and the Mines Advisory Group, with funding provided by OXFAM, each provided the CMDO with two ambulances for the Bajaur and Kurram agencies to enhance the existing CMDO ambulance service and facilitate free and fast transport for mine casualties to a fully equipped medical center with proper first aid, treatment and surgical facilities.
There are no rehabilitation programs for landmine survivors supported by the government in the mine-affected areas. Prosthetic facilities are available, but mine survivors generally have to cover the costs, and many do not have adequate resources.
The local NGO, Association for the Rehabilitation of the Physically Disabled, in collaboration with Action for Disability UK, provided prosthetics, rehabilitation and vocational training in ten different trades, for people with a physical disability, including landmine survivors, mainly in the Afghan border areas between April 2001and 31 March 2004. Nine small border centers were established in the tribal areas to improve access to services. In 2003, RCPD assisted 864 people, including 458 mines survivors, and provided 118 prostheses, 54 wheelchairs and 152 crutches. In 2002, 988 people, including 635 mine survivors, were assisted; 759 mine survivors were assisted in 2001. The program was funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
CMDO carried out a mine action project that included survivor assistance and data collection in Bajaur Agency from March 2000 to March 2003 with financial support of Swiss Foundation of Landmine Victims Aid. Since June 2001, CMDO provided support for the physical rehabilitation of two landmine survivors per month covering all costs including transport, accommodation, and other treatment costs including prostheses; 64 landmine survivors were rehabilitated under this program; most were children under 15 years old. Pakistan Prosthetic and Orthotic Services (PIPOS) in Peshawar provided the rehabilitation service. In February 2003, CMDO launched its new Multi-sector Mine Action project in the Kurram Agency, in Partnership with Humanitarian Medical Aid and Development Responses International, UK. The project focuses on the physical rehabilitation of landmine/UXO survivors through physiotherapy as well as facilitating access to other health services, including prosthetics, and includes a component for socio-economic reintegration. During 2003, CMDO provided prostheses for 17 mine survivors and 125 survivors received physiotherapy treatment; services are free-of-charge. The Taiwan-based Eden Welfare Foundation distributed 100 wheelchairs through CMDO for landmine survivors in 2003.
In 2003 and the first quarter of 2004, the Human Development Promotion Group (HDPG) assisted 15 landmine survivors with artificial limbs, medical assistance and physiotherapy. HDPG also covered the costs of travel and accommodation for landmine survivors from Bajaur tribal area. The program is funded by US-based World Children’s Fund (WCF) and First Hand Foundation.
From November 2000 to July 2004, Mercy Corps Scotland, together with the Christian Hospital Quetta, supported the Baluchistan Community Rehabilitation program in Baluchistan Province. The orthopedic workshop at Christian Hospital assisted disabled Pakistanis and Afghan refugees in Quetta and at three refugee camps (until 2002). The workshop fits artificial limbs for adults and children and provides physiotherapy services. From January 2003 to May 2004, 1,903 people received physiotherapy treatments, 839 prostheses were fitted and 191 devices repaired; four mine survivors were assisted. Mercy Corps reports that the number of new mine survivors seeking assistance has decreased in the last two years. The program was funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Although Mercy Corps Scotland involvement in the program has ended Christian Hospital continues to provide services and is negotiating a cooperative agreement with the ICRC.
From July to December 2002, Handicap International provided physiotherapy and other rehabilitation services in three Afghan refugee camps (Charman, Mohammad Khail and Loralai): 4,183 people were assisted, including some landmine survivors.
Pakistani landmine survivors from FATA and from Bajaur tribal area in particular continue to seek assistance in the ICRC orthopedic workshops in Afghanistan. However, the ongoing military operations by Pakistan and US forces against Al-Qaida have restricted movements across the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The government is paying compensation to mine survivors and the families of those killed by landmines as a result of the conflict on the Pakistan-India border. An amount of 50,000 Rupees ($823) is paid to the family of those killed and from 10,000 to 25,000 Rupees ($165 to $412) to mine survivors, depending on their injuries. Some members of the National Assembly claim that the amount provided to the family of a person killed by a landmine is inadequate. As of April 2004, 3.5 million Rupees ($57,635) had been paid to landmine victims in the border areas. The government is reportedly in the process of verifying more claims, after which compensation will be paid.
Two mine survivors from Pakistan participated in the raising the Voices training program in 2003.

 

Developed By: Qasim Ali