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3 NE outfits pledge against using land mines

By Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 � Out of the over 100-odd militant outfits in the North-east, only three have bothered to pledge against using land mines. The NSCN (I-M), Kuki National Organisation and little-known Zomi Re-unification Organisation have signed the Deed of Commitment under an initiative called Geneva Call.

The anti-personnel mines (AP) mostly in the shape of IEDs are frequently used by militant outfits, including ULFA, against security personnel, though at times civilians also fall victim. At least 88 Kuki civilians have been killed by mine blasts, said Binalakshmi Nepram, secretary general of Control Arms Foundation of India, adding that they have confronted the Army with evidence of use of mines in the North-east.

The Geneva Call says that armed conflicts involving one or more armed non-State actors (NSAs) are ongoing in Kashmir, central and North-east India. In North-east India alone, more than 100 NSAs of various sizes operate, primarily in Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur.

Women are particularly vulnerable to anti-personnel (AP) mine abuse.

Only a few NSAs are currently in dialogue with the government to pursue a peaceful resolution to their particular conflict.

Geneva Call has been engaging NSAs in an AP mine ban in North-east India since 2003, in cooperation with the Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines and other local civil society actors.

Meanwhile, anti-mines campaigner and researcher Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan discounted the possibility of use of Chinese mines in the North-east. On the contrary, he alleged that Indian mines were found in neighbouring Myanmar.

Admitting to smuggling of weapons into the region, Moser-Puangsuwan, who is the Asia research coordinator for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, said much of the IEDS are used by militant outfits in Assam.

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