Land-Mines Victims in FATA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has released the figures of recent victims of landmines planted by Pakistan Army in FATA which represent a tiny percentage of the actual figures. Pakistan Army carried out a series of intermittent operations across FATA till 2016, when they claimed they had destroyed the Pakistani Taliban’s infrastructure in the country. The army claimed that it has cleared the area of land mines but contrary to that claim the whole FATA is still mined.

According to reliable sources more than 5,000 victims of landmines had been identified in the tribal areas but the government of Pakistan has not taken any steps for their rehabilitation. Only in Kurram agency (now District) 2300 land mines victims have been identified. Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) has been working against landmines and for the rehabilitation of their victims in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Pakistan is a non-signatory of the Ottawa Treaty, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines (APLs) is among fifteen landmine-producing countries across the globe.

These lethal and hidden weapons have badly affected thousands of lives in FATA, but unfortunately these people had not received any kind of attention and relief from the government Pakistan.