Ammunition Kills

In an unfortunate yet shocking incident three innocent children, aged 10 to 12 years, were killed when abandoned ammunition exploded near an Army firing range in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district on Wednesday. The children were trying to remove scrap from the used mortar shells. One of the shells exploded and killed them on the spot. The culprit, here the firing range is used by the Indian Army and the Border Security Force. The responsible authorities under whose jurisdiction the abandoned ammunition was found leading to the accident should be made accountable for their omission and given appropriate punishment. This is not the first time the Army has been involved in such an accident. Last year some innocent villagers were hurt in similar circumstances at the Assam Rifles Training Centre, Sokhuvi near Dimapur. The latest incident of innocent civilians succumbing to explosive device/s brings to light the problems associated with militarization of public inhabited areas including vast area of agriculture land. One should remember that whether it is ordinary ammunition or land mines, their use whether by State actors or Non-State armed groups is unacceptable because at the end of the day they have the potential to kill soldier and civilian alike. The use of such explosives is dangerous and harmful because even after the conflict is over it can still kill and injure civilians and also render the land as unusable. According to in-depth study conducted on land mines, what makes it even more difficult is that those who deploy them do not keep accurate records (or any at all) of the exact locations of their minefields and thereby making removal efforts painstakingly slow. These pose serious difficulties in many developing nations where the presence of mines hampers resettlement, agriculture, and tourism.
Now the good news is that the International Campaign to Ban Landmines was successful to prohibit their use, culminating in the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty. As of 2007, a total of 158 nations have agreed to the treaty. The bad news though is that thirty-seven countries have not agreed to the ban, including the world’s oldest and largest democracy United States and India respectively. Given that a landmine free environment is a matter of human rights, the Government of India should take steps to address the concern and sign the treaty banning landmine. One should be encouraged by the fact that Rwanda has become the first country to be declared free of landmines. Close to 9000 mines laid in the country in between 1990-1994, the high point of conflict was finally removed after a pain staking effort. In order to achieve a truly universal ban on these weapons, even non-state armed groups have taken the pledge to halt landmine use. It will be worth mentioning that the National Socialist Council of Nagalim is one of the signatories banning anti-personnel mines. Other from northeast India includes the Kuki National Organization (KNO) and the Zomi Re-unification Organization (ZRO). If the non-state actors can come abroad and sign such a commitment not to use dangerous mines, there is no reason why India cannot likewise make a similar commitment.