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Key developments since May 2001: As part of the military buildup since December 2001, both Pakistan and India have emplaced large numbers of antipersonnel mines along their common border. Reports of civilian casualties in Pakistan following the recent mine-laying call into question the effectiveness of the measures taken to protect civilians. In April 2002, Pakistan Ordnance Factories is alleged to have offered two types of antipersonnel mines for sale in the United Kingdom. Pakistan has now acknowledged that it has started producing both new detectable hand-emplaced antipersonnel mines and new remotely-delivered mines. In 2001, there were 92 new mine casualties recorded, including 36 children, in Pakistan.
Pakistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In a letter to the Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL) in February 2002, the Joint Staff Headquarters stated, “Although Pakistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997, yet we fully subscribe to the goal of eventual elimination of APL [antipersonnel landmines]. However, unless viable alternative of the APL is developed/made available, Pakistan would find it difficult to join the Ottawa Convention.”[1] In a second letter to the PCBL in April 2002, Pakistan stated, “Although our regional security environment and our military requirements to check any aggressive incursions, have constrained us from joining the Ottawa Treaty, Pakistan scrupulously adheres to a policy, including no exports, which ensures that the mines in our military inventory will never become a cause for the civilian casualties anywhere. This position is consistent with the basic objective of the Ottawa Treaty.”[2]
Pakistan abstained from voting on the pro-Mine Ban Treaty UN General Assembly Resolution in November 2001, as it had in previous years. Pakistan did not attend as an observer the Third Meeting of States Parties in Nicaragua in September 2001 and did not participate in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January 2002, but did attend the meetings in May 2002 in Geneva.
Pakistan is a party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and attended the Third Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2001. Pakistan submitted its annual report as required under Article 13 of Amended Protocol II. In its letters to the PCBL, Pakistan noted with respect to Amended Protocol II that it “fully complies with its provisions,”[3] and “ensures its full implementation, true to its letter and spirit.”[4]
At the Second Review Conference of States Parties to the CCW, Pakistan expressed its view on the proposal on mines other than antipersonnel mines: “We understand the problems caused by anti-vehicle mines for peacekeeping and peace-building operations. The proposal is still being carefully studied by our authorities, especially its implications for our national security. We should get rid of all mines, but without undermining the legitimate security requirements of High Contracting Parties. This will require above all, fuller international cooperation in particular to identify and develop viable alternatives that evolve equal security for the States concerned.”[5] With regard to the proposal on Explosive Remnants of War, Pakistan said it “does not believe that this area is ripe for negotiations. We must first be clear about the facts and problems relating to explosive remnants of war. Only then can we formulate an appropriate legal instrument.”[6]
The state-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in the past produced six types of antipersonnel mines: minimum-metal blast mines P2 Mk2 and P4 Mk2; bounding fragmentation mines P3 Mk2 and P7 Mk2; and directional fragmentation/Claymore mines P5 Mk1 and P5 Mk2.[7] The private sector is not allowed to produce or purchase landmines.[8]
Pakistan has now acknowledged that it has started producing both new detectable hand-emplaced antipersonnel mines and new remotely delivered mines with self-destruct and self-deactivating mechanisms. It states the new mines are “absolutely in line with the requirements” of Amended Protocol II.[9] New production of detectable versions of the P2 Mk2 and P4 Mk2 mines started after 1 January 1997.[10] In December 2001 Pakistan reported that all technical requirements of Amended Protocol II have been appropriately included at the development, production, and user levels.[11]
There is no official information on the size of Pakistan’s stockpile. Landmine Monitor has, since 2000, estimated that Pakistan holds at least six million antipersonnel mines in stockpile, based on information provided by a senior Pakistani official.[12] This constitutes the fifth largest stockpile in the world. The government has neither confirmed nor denied the number.
Pakistan has said that “conversion of the existing stocks of the Anti-personnel mines to detectable ones is in hand and progressing as per plans.”[13] Pakistan opted to utilize the nine-year deferral period available under Amended Protocol II, meaning that conversion must be completed within nine years of entry into force (by 3 December 2007).
Pakistan declared a complete moratorium on export of antipersonnel mines in 1997, but has stated that in practice it has not exported “since early 1992.”[14] 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.’”[15]
In April 2002, Pakistan Ordnance Factories allegedly offered two types of antipersonnel mines for sale in the United Kingdom to a journalist from Channel 4 TV, who posed as a representative of a private company seeking to purchase a variety of weapons. The mines appeared in a brochure, which the POF Director of Exports later claimed was out of date. He stated that “all our current brochures do not at all have any data/reference to mines of any sort.”[16] A similar incident involving POF occurred in 1999.[17]
There were allegations of Pakistani-manufactured antipersonnel mines being supplied to armed groups fighting in the Kargil region of India-administered Kashmir in 1999.[18] In its February 2002 letter to the PCBL, the Joint Staff Headquarters strongly denied this, calling it a “concocted story” and stating, “The Indian allegation of having recovered POF manufactured mines from Indian Held Kashmir is nothing but an effort to malign Pakistan unnecessarily.... Because, for their proximity and presence of permanently laid mines along the LoC [line of control] in Kashmir, both countries are likely to hold some stocks/samples of each other’s APL, acquired consequent to the de-mining actions during de-escalation following the heightened periods of tensions/war.”[19] Pakistan has also said that “use of mines by the Kashmiri freedom fighters or any other entity cannot/should not in any way be linked to Pakistan. Since the freedom struggle in Kashmir is an indigenous movement and Pakistan only provides political and moral support to these freedom fighters, hence, Indian rhetoric notwithstanding, use of landmines by Kashmiri, if any, should not be construed as having been provided by Pakistan or necessarily of Pakistani origin.”[20]
As part of the military buildup following the 13 December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, both Pakistan and India have emplaced large numbers of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines along their common border. Pakistan has been reluctant to acknowledge its mine-laying. In response to a letter from the ICBL expressing concerns regarding new use of antipersonnel mines, the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. stated, “Pakistan has been obliged to take precautionary defensive measures,” and noted its obligations as a party to Amended Protocol II and its “unique record of clearing all minefields after the three wars in South Asia.”[21]
A deputy superintendent of police in Toba Chacu said that Pakistani troops had planted “a large number” of mines in areas of the Cholistan desert, near the Indian border.[22] There have been reports of accidents occurring when Pakistani soldiers were planting mines. In two separate incidents in January 2002, thirteen Pakistani soldiers were killed and several injured while laying mines on the Indo-Pakistani border.[23]
There have been recent landmine incidents in different districts and the tribal areas of Pakistan, including Sibi District of Baluchistan Province, Bahawalpur and Sialkot districts of Punjab Province and South Waziristan Tribal Area.[24] The incidents along the border with India are likely due to recent landmine use by the Pakistan Army.[25]
In January 2002, one man was killed and another injured when the bicycle they were riding hit a mine near the border village of Bajwat, near the Sialkot working boundary. The media report cited police sources attributing the emplacement of the mine to the Pakistani Army.[26] In February 2002, seven members of one family, including three women, were killed in Cholistan when their jeep ran over a landmine. The news article said, “The area has become a killing field as Pakistani troops have laid a large number of landmines in the desert following a suicide attack on the Indian parliament and the ensuing tension on the borders. The landmines, though implanted with the defense point of view, are causing casualties of civilians as well as the army personnel and the livestock grazing in the area.”[27]
As a State Party to Amended Protocol II, Pakistan must provide effective exclusion of civilians from areas containing antipersonnel mines. Reports of civilian casualties in Pakistan following the recent mine laying call into question the effectiveness of the measures taken to protect Pakistani civilians from the effects of mines.
As noted above, Pakistan used landmines during its three wars with India in 1947, 1965, and 1971. Pakistan also acknowledges using mines in Kashmir. The Joint Staff Headquarters stated in April 2002, “There are no permanently laid landmines (antitank or antipersonnel) along the international border between India and Pakistan. However, situation is somewhat different along the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, where for regular deployment of troops both India and Pakistan maintain permanently laid minefields along certain portions of the LOC. However, these minefields are properly fenced and marked as per requirements of the Amended Protocol II.”[28] There were also reports of use of mines by Pakistani troops in Kashmir during the Kargil crisis in 1999.[29]
In its December 2001 Article 13 report, Pakistan once again claimed that it “is not a mine-afflicted country,” and stated, “There are, therefore, no mine clearance problems or casualties.”[30] However, it went on to acknowledge, “certain problems, in this regard, are faced in the areas bordering Afghanistan. This is a legacy of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which is one of the most mine-affected countries and continues to remain in state of turmoil.”[31] The Joint Staff Headquarters reaffirmed, “The landmine casualties, reported in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan, are well known to be a legacy of Russian occupation of Afghanistan from 1979-89. Though, possibility of locating Pakistan made APL in these areas is very remote, nevertheless, even if few such mines are located, those too may be attributed to the period of freedom struggle by the Afghan Mujahideen against Russian occupation of their country, when they were provided arms/ammo by the USA & Pakistan etc.”[32]
The landmine problem is serious in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, especially in Bajaur and Kurram tribal areas.[33] It is difficult to estimate the mine-affected land in square meters as no technical or landmine impact survey has been carried out. In addition, the landmines were not regularly deployed nor the mined areas marked.
According to the ongoing household survey initiated by the NGO Human Survival and Development (HSD)[34] in August 2000, mines have the most frequent impact on agriculture and grazing land, non-agricultural land used for collecting firewood, irrigation, and roads and paths. In Bajaur Agency, the most mine-affected region, landmine casualties predominantly have occurred while farming, the main local economic activity. As of 31 August 2001, HSD had interviewed 650 landmine victims and their family members.
Human Survival and Development carried out a one-month landmine assessment survey for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in December 2001, collecting information in a ten kilometers radius from the seven newly established Afghan refugee camps in FATA and Baluchistan Province.[35] All areas surveyed except Mohmand Agency registered landmine and UXO casualties. Landmines have caused considerable loss to the local communities.[36]
At the Third Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2001, Pakistan released a 4-page “Fact Sheet on Pakistan’s Contribution Towards Mine Clearance Activity World Wide.”[37] It provided details on operations in Afghanistan (1989-91), Cambodia (1992-93), Kuwait (post-1991 Gulf War), and Angola (1995-98), as well as in Eastern Slovenia and Western Sahara as part of UN peacekeeping contingents. Activities have included clearance, survey, mine risk education, training, and supervision.
Pakistan has also accepted the request of Lebanon for demining assistance to Lebanon. A contingent of the Army’s Corps of Engineers is expected to begin operations in 2002.[38]
In the mine-affected areas of Pakistan, no mine clearance activities have taken place. In its April 2002 letter to the PCBL, the Joint Staff Headquarters makes reference to Landmine Monitor’s citation of landmine incidents in “Bajaur Agency, Kurram Agency, Malakand Agency, etc,” and then states, “Pakistan supports de-mining and victim rehabilitation programmes wherever needed.... This problem can be effectively addressed through the provision of resources and assistance to the affected areas.”[39]
According to the data collected by the PCBL and HSD, demining support is not available in surveyed areas. In a few cases the local population have bought mine detectors to check paths and places suspected of mine contamination. They eventually demine, although they have no mine clearance skills.
The Human Survival and Development household survey revealed that the local community is unaware of proper procedures to follow when encountering landmines: 50 percent of people surveyed will shoot to defuse a mine; 26 percent will throw stones at landmines; and 15 percent will light a fire. Only 8 percent report the mines to the administration, military or elders and only one percent mark landmines with stones.[40]
HSD, which since May 2002 operates as the Community Motivation and Development Organization (CMDO), is providing Basic Mine Awareness and Risk Avoidance (BMA & RA) Education to the local population in Bajaur Agency. In 2001, HSD trained 18,059 participants: 6,450 were trained in 42 schools, 7,556 in 120 public places, and 4,553 in 62 mosques. Since it started its operation in August 2000, HSD has trained 42,435 participants.[41]
HSD/CMDO uses direct education and a community-based approach relying on the support of volunteers. HSD/CMDO mine risk education is focused on children and it has employed children as resource agents to disseminate the message widely. The children are expected to pass the message to women whom HSD cannot approach directly due to cultural barriers. The program is financed by the Swiss Foundation for Landmines Victims Aid, which provides US$89,700 annually.
The Italian NGO Intersos provided mine risk education in refugee camps in Pakistan from January 2001 through June 2002, with $11,000 in funding from UNHCR.[42] It employed six Afghan trainers.[43]
Handicap International Belgium provided mine risk education to Afghan refugees in three camps in Baluchistan from October 2001 to March 2002. This was part of an emergency project supported by UNHCR and Luxembourg. The project was extended to four other refugee camps in Chaman and Dingar from April to June 2002.
In 2001, there were 92 new mine casualties recorded, including 36 children, in Pakistan. A total of 28 people were killed and 64 injured, of which 21 required an amputation as a consequence of their injuries. Most of the incidents occurred in Kurram Agency, Baluchistan Province, and North West Frontier Province. This represents an increase over the 62 new casualties identified in 2000. However, this increase may be due to improved data collection mechanisms in the mine-affected areas. In the first five months of 2002, 49 new mine casualties were recorded.
Since September 1997, the PCBL has been collecting data on landmine casualties in Pakistan from various sources including newspapers, the HSD database on the Bajaur tribal area, and field visits to mine-affected areas. The first recorded landmine casualty occurred in 1980; from 1980 to December 2001, 842 landmine casualties have been identified. The PCBL believes that the number of mine casualties would be higher if a comprehensive survey was carried out, especially in the provinces of Baluchistan and Azad Kashmir.
The Director General of the Disarmament and Strategic Plan Division did not respond to a request for information on military casualties caused by landmines on the India-Pakistan border, or in demining operations abroad. However, as previously reported, in two separate incidents in January 2002, thirteen Pakistani soldiers were killed and several injured by landmines in the border area.[45]
There are no specialized/specific medical, surgical or first aid facilities available to 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. Patients must pay for medicines, treatment, and transport. Military personnel have access to services free of charge, and are treated in Combined Military Hospitals (CMH) located in the big cities. 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. According to the survey conducted by HSD, organizing transport to the hospital took 15 minutes in 11 percent of cases, 16-30 minutes in 57 percent of cases, and more then one hour in 32 percent of cases. The injured person reached the hospital in less than three hours in about 57 percent of cases, in three to six hours in 41 percent of cases, and in more then six hours in two percent of cases.[46] HSD now provides an ambulance in Bajaur Agency to transport landmine casualties to a suitably equipped medical facility for first aid, proper treatment, and surgery. The service, which is free of charge, includes first aid, medicines, and the assistance of a trained paramedic during the evacuation. In 2001, the Swiss Foundation for Landmine Victim’s Aid (SFLVA) donated US$17,000 for this service. In late 2001, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) conducted an assessment in partnership with HSD/CMDO and in 2002, Oxfam UK granted MAG funds to enable CMDO to purchase two emergency evacuation vehicles.[47]
There are no rehabilitation programs for landmine survivors supported by the government in the mine-affected areas. Prosthetic facilities are available but mine survivors have to cover the costs, and many do not have adequate resources.
Since June 2001, HSD/CMDO provides support for the physical rehabilitation of two landmine survivors per month from Bajaur Agency. HSD/CMDO identifies the amputees and covers all costs including transport, accommodation, and other costs related to their stay as well as the prosthesis. Pakistan Prosthetic and Orthotic Services (PIPOS) provides the rehabilitation service. The HSD/CMDO program receives US$1,480 per month from the SFLVA. PIPOS is based in Peshawar and is linked with three workshops in Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In addition to prosthetic and orthotic services, PIPOS runs a four year B.Sc degree program in prosthetics for students from all over the country, as well as from abroad.
A local NGO, Rehabilitation Center for the Physically Disabled (RCPD), which is supported by Action for Disability UK, provides rehabilitation and vocational training to landmine survivors in the border areas. In 2001, 759 landmine survivors were assisted and 126 prostheses, 126 crutches, and 68 walking sticks provided. The program was funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.[48]
Mercy Corps started the Baluchistan Community Rehabilitation Program in November 2000. Mercy Corps, together with the Christian Hospital Quetta, have set up an orthopedic workshop to assist disabled Afghan refugees. The workshop also provides training in physiotherapy for the families of disabled patients. In 2001, 4,583 people were assisted, including 529 landmine survivors who received 74 prostheses, 14 wheelchairs, 46 crutches and 295 other assistive devices. The program is funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.[49]
Handicap International Belgium also has a rehabilitation program for disabled Afghan refugees in camps in Baluchistan province. Activities focused on physiotherapy visits and the production of 82 walking aids and 20 pairs of crutches.[50]
There are no known psychological support services accessible to landmine survivors in the mine-affected areas.
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[1] Letter to Coordinator, Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines, from Joint Staff Headquarters, Strategic Plans Division, ACDA Directorate, Chaklala Cantonment, dated 14 February 2002.
[2] Letter to Coordinator, Pakistan Campaign to Ban Landmines, from Joint Staff Headquarters, Strategic Plans Division, ACDA Directorate, Chaklala Cantonment, dated 4 April 2002.
[3] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 4 April 2002.
[4] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002.
[5] Statement by Ambassador Munir Akram to the Second Review Conference of States Parties to the CCW, Geneva, 11 December 2001.
[6] Ibid.
[7] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 496.
[8] Annual Report under Article 13, Amended Protocol II, CCW, 10 December 2001.
[9] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002.
[10] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 4 April 2002.
[11] Annual Report under Article 13, Amended Protocol II, CCW, 10 December 2001.
[12] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 525.
[13] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 4 April 2002.
[14] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002. Previously it has said no export since 1991.
[15] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002; also, Article 13 Report, 10 December 2001.
[16] Letter from Pakistan Ordnance Factory to Channel 4 (television company), 1 May 2002.
[17] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 746-749.
[18] Ibid., p. 525, and Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 568. In January 2000, Indian military officials in Kashmir showed a Landmine Monitor researcher mines with the seal of the Pakistan Ordnance Factory on them, claiming the mines had been recovered from militants.
[19] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Letter to the ICBL from the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC, 29 January 2002. Identical language was used in a letter to the Landmine Monitor Coordinator from Asif Durrani, Counsellor, Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, New York, 22 July 2002.
[22] “Pakistan: Landmine Blast kills seven of a family in remote area of Punjab,” The News (Islamabad), 14 February 2002.
[23] “Mine Blast Kills 8 Pak Soldiers,” UNI/The Hitvada (Jaisalmer, India), 14 January 2002; “Mine Kills Five Pakistani soldiers,” UNI/The Hitvada, 24 January 2002.
[24] PCBL Data Base of Landmine Victims.
[25] Landmine Monitor had not recorded incidents in these locations in the past, but incidents occurred shortly after the escalation of tensions.
[26] Dawn, (English language newspaper in Pakistan), 2 January 2002.
[27] “Landmine blast kills seven of a family in remote area of Punjab,” The News (Islamabad), 14 February 2002.
[28] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 4 April 2002.
[29] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 569.
[30] Article 13 Report, 10 December 2001.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002.
[33] For more details see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 569 – 570.
[34] In May 2002, HSD merged with the Peshawar-based Community Motivation and Development Organization (CMDO). All of its activities are now being implemented under the name of CMDO. Emails from Faiz Fayyaz, Chief Executive, CMDO, 11 and 15 July 2002.
[35] Refugee camps included Kotkai Campsite in Bajaur Agency FATA; Asgharo Campsite, Bassu Campsite, and Ubakzai Campsite in Kurram Agency FATA; Malkana Campsite in Khyber Agency FATA; Khanzadgan Campsite in Mohmand Agency FATA; and Roghani Campsite in District Qila Abdullah Baluchistan.
[36] Landmine/UXO Assessment Survey Report of UNHCR Campsites in FATA and Baluchistan November-December 2001.
[37] “Fact Sheet on Pakistan’s Contribution Towards Mine Clearance Activity World Wide,” undated, distributed in Geneva on 10 December 2001.
[38] Article 13 Report, 10 December 2001; Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 14 February 2002.
[39] Joint Staff Headquarters letter to PCBL, 4 April 2002.
[40] HSD, “Landmine/UXO Assessment Survey Report of UNHCR Campsites in FATA and Baluchistan, November-December 2001.”
[41] HSD Interim Progress Report, as of August 31, 2001.
[42] Pia Cantini, MRE Officer, Intersos, 31 July 2002.
[43] Presentation by Pia Cantini, MRE Officer, Intersos, to the Mine Risk Education Working Group, Geneva, 30 May 2002.
[44] The information that follows comes from the PCBL Data Base of Landmine Victims and the HSD Household Survey in Bajaur Tribal Area. More detailed information is available in the full draft version of the Pakistan country report for Landmine Monitor. It is available to the public.
[45] “Mine Blast Kills 8 Pak Soldiers,” UNI/The Hitvada, Jaisalmer, India, 14 January 2002; “Mine Kills Five Pakistani soldiers,” UNI/ The Hitvada, Jaisalmer, India, 24 January 2002.
[46] HSD Household Survey in Bajaur Tribal Area.
[47] Email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) from Tim Carstairs, Policy Director, Mines Advisory Group, 1 August 2002.
[48] Tracey Mole, Director, Action for Disability, response to Landmine Monitor Survivor Assistance Questionnaire, 25 June 2002.
[49] Cathy Ratcliff, Programmes Director, Aid International/Mercy Corps Scotland, response to Landmine Monitor Survivor Assistance Questionnaire, 15 July 2002.
[50] Handicap International Belgium Activity Report 2001.
