Landmines and borderlands

The world observes the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on April 4, i.e. today. This year's theme – Invest in Peace; Invest in Mine Action – draws attention to the unfortunate reality that lasting peace cannot take root in lands seeded with explosives. Globally, a person is killed or injured by a landmine every hour, according to the UN.

Closer to home, while Pakistan is not among the worst-affected countries, we have still seen a disproportionate amount of human suffering due to landmine use by all sides in every conflict. NGOs have estimated over 5,000 civilian deaths due to landmines in the tribal areas, with several incidents reported in the last year. It is also worth noting that mines cause losses to livestock as well. And while laying mines is relatively quick and inexpensive, removing them is painstaking, costly and often dangerous. Last year, at least five soldiers were martyred and over 100 were injured during efforts to clear about 114 square kilometres of land along the Afghan border, according to reports.

Demining is important not just because it protects people from being killed by these explosive devices, but also because it makes more land available for productive economic use, especially farming and grazing. In the war-ravaged and poverty-stricken border villages, this can be just the kind of boost that helps bring some semblance of normalcy to the region.

Now is as good a time as any to call on the government to invest additional resources into demining and rehabilitation work in the ex-FATA areas, Balochistan and other parts of the country. The government should also reconsider its refusal to even entertain the idea of banning landmines or curtailing their use as a border management tool. There are far safer and more efficient ways to guard our frontiers while also making use of the land.