DUSHANBE, August 29, 2012, Asia-Plus — Exactly twelve years ago, on August 29, 2000, six residents of the Tajik northern district of Isfara were blown up by landmines laid along the Tajik-Uzbek border. They were the first victims of landmines laid by the Uzbek authorities.
Parviz Mavlonqulov, an official with the Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC), says 76 people have been killed and 81 others have been injured in mine explosions on the Tajik-Uzbek border.
It is to be noted that most land mines in Tajikistan were laid during the devastating five-year civil war, which ended in 1997. In some areas the mines still pose a deadly threat as well as a major impediment to effective land use.
Additional mines were laid along the Tajik-Uzbek border by the authorities in Tashkent. The action was reportedly taken to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). To date, no one Uzbek militant has been blown up by these mines, while casualties among the civilian Tajik population have increased. Most of the victims were women and children who were gathering firewood along the border as well as shepherds pasturing cattle in the areas. Almost all who have survived have become disabled for life.
“In all, 843 people have become victims of UXOs (unexploded ordnances) and mine explosions in Tajikistan over the past twenty years; 368 of them have died,” Mavlonqulov noted.
The latest fatal incident was reported in the Shourobod district, Khatlon province. The incident occurred on August 21. A 10-year-old boy was killed and two other youths were injured when a shell exploded near the Mumirak test field belonging to a Russian military base in Tajikistan. The boys found the shell as they were reportedly helping their parents harvest wheat.
Tajik media reports have speculated that the shell could have come from the Russian military base. Russian military officials in Tajikistan have rejected the reports.
According to Mavlonqulov, demining teams are to clear more than 7 million square meters of lands in the country of landmines and UXOs. “This is more than 200 minefields, located mostly along the Tajik-Afghan border, as well as in the central region and in the Saghirdasht area of Gorno Badakhshan,” said he. “There were extensive actions in these areas during the civil war.”
Tajikistan signed the Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction (the Ottawa Convention) in 2000. All signatory states undertook to ensure the destruction of all anti-personnel land mines they possess, as soon as possible but no later than 10 years after signing the convention.
Tajikistan’s Red Crescent Society (RCS) launched a special program, entitled Raising Awareness of Mines and Unexploded Ordnance, in January 2002. The goal was to cut the number of casualties by teaching local people in affected areas some rules of safe conduct. Specialists say fewer people have stepped on mines since the project was launched.
