Baglung is landmine free

BABURAM KHAREL

BAGLUNG, JAN 28 -
Nepal Army (NA) on Friday declared Baglung a landmine free district with the clearance of Bhimgitthe-based land mines that were laid around the NA barracks during the decade-long internal conflict. 

Now, the total number of minefields cleared so far has reached 38 with 15 more minefields in different districts across the country left to be cleared, NA said. The Army had laid thousands of landmines at 53 different places during the insurgency. Working for the last one-and-a-half month, NA’s specialised bomb de-mining platoon in coordination with UN Mine Action Team (UNMAT) and the British government cleared the Bhimgitthe-based minefield that was laid on the land of local inhabitants. British Ambassador to Nepal John Tucknott on Friday handed over the certificates of the cleared land to the respective owners amid a function attended by representatives from the Danish Embassy, UNMAT, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, NA, local inhabitants and local administration. The land owners, who were living under constant threat from landmines, can now utilise their land without fear.  Tucknott described the clearance of minefield as a token that peace had returned to the country. “There is no need of landmines anymore in the country,” Tucknott said, urging the government to sign on the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

As per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies signed in 2006, the Nepal Army Mine Action Coordination Centre (NAMACC) along with UNMAT and other donor agencies has been conducting de-mining activities since 2007. NA officials said that the four specialised platoons under NAMACC will clear all remaining minefields at the earliest. Many people have been killed and scores injured in landmine blasts in the country.

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