Pakistan has one of the world’s highest number of casualties due to landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO) Executive Director Raza Shah Khan said on Friday at the launch of its research report, “Impact of landmines and ERW”.
“This was due to the increasing use of such devices by non-state actors in the tribal areas and in Balochistan and due to activity along its borders with India and Afghanistan,” he said.
According to a senior research analyst, Asmatullah Khan Wazir, the number of annual casualties identified by media monitoring had jumped from 92 in 2001 to 636 in 2011, most of whom were civilians.
He said that the actual toll was certainly higher, as incidents which occurred in far-flung areas were rarely reported. He further said that there was no official mechanism for collecting casualty data and many casualties occurred in remote areas where access to medical and rehabilitation was difficult. The survey revealed that most of the casualties were men of an economically active age whose death or injury imposed severe strains on their families and communities in what were some of the country’s poorest areas.
Injury and disability also exact a heavy toll on casualties through depression, post traumatic stress and social stigmatisation, particularly severe for women.
Raza Shah Khan said the Government of Pakistan does not acknowledge the extent of the problem of landmines and other explosive remnants of war on its territory.
“Moreover, it declared there was no problem of un-cleared mines, although it also reported the use of mines and other explosive devices by terrorists. The corollary to the government’s lack of recognition of the problem had been a lack of action,” he said.
The state provided critical support through public hospitals which were used by close to two-thirds of its victims.
However, there were no specialised medical or surgical facilities for landmine and other casualties close to mine-affected areas and limited facilities for psychological support or physical rehabilitation and training of survivors.
The report encouraged the government of Pakistan to recognise the scale of the problem, establish a humanitarian mine action centre to coordinate responses to the growing threat of explosive devices, and take other practical measures such as setting up a central register of incidents involving mines and ERW and casualties. The report also called on armed non-state actors to halt use of landmines and IEDs and take immediate steps to reduce the threat to civilians by informing local communities of hazards. It urged international donors and organisations to support and provide expertise for humanitarian mine action.