Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In November 2013, Pakistan repeated its 2012 statement that it “remains committed to pursue the objectives of a universal and non-discriminatory ban on anti-personnel mines in a manner which takes into account the legitimate defence requirements of States. Given our security compulsions and the need to guard our long borders, not protected by any natural obstacle, the use of landmines forms an important part of our self-defence strategy. As such, it is not possible for Pakistan to agree to the demands for the complete prohibition of anti-personnel landmines till such time that viable alternatives are available.”[1]

Pakistan participated as an observer in the Ottawa Process meetings and the Mine Ban Treaty negotiations, but it has rarely engaged in the treaty since 1997. It has never attended a Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty and has participated as an observer in just a handful of Meetings of States Parties. Its attendance at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2013 marked its first participation in a Mine Ban Treaty meeting since 2008. Pakistan has participated in few of the treaty’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva.

On 5 December 2013, Pakistan abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/30 calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on all previous annual UNGA resolutions in support of the treaty.

Pakistan is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and submitted a CCW Protocol II Article 13 report in April 2014, covering the calendar year 2013.

Use

Following an increase in Pakistan Army operations in the country’s border areas with Afghanistan in 2012, there have been reports in the domestic Pakistani media of new mine casualties in those areas. Media reports in 2012 and 2013 attributed the new casualties to use of mines by Pakistani forces for “security purposes” but it is unclear if the mines were laid recently or in the past.[2] In September 2013, a woman and her daughter were killed by an antipersonnel mine reportedly laid by Pakistani forces near a military post in the Harank area of Sui district Dera Bugti.[3] Another media report on a variety of casualties in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) noted “some security forces have also planted mines to secure their check posts from militants.”[4]

As recently as March 2014, Pakistan stated that it has not laid mines since the Pakistan-India border mine-laying more than a decade ago.[5] That last confirmed large-scale use of antipersonnel mines by Pakistan took place between December 2001 and mid-2002, during the escalation of tensions with India, when Pakistan laid very large numbers of mines along their shared border.[6] Pakistan maintains permanent minefields along certain portions of the Line of Control that divides Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan states that antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines, and improvised explosive devices have been used throughout the country, and attributes the use to “terrorists.”[7] In January 2014, two members of a village militia group were killed by an antipersonnel mine as they approached an outpost. It is not known if the mine was planted by the militia or militants of Lashkar-i-Islam, near the Aman Lashkar bunker in the Kata Kanri area of Bazaar Zakhakhel of Landi Kotal Tehsil, FATA.[8]

As in previous years, several other civilians were killed or injured in what appeared to be incidents of new use by unknown perpetrators. The Monitor has registered numerous antipersonnel mine incidents in Balochistan, FATA, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa although in some cases the precise date of mine use cannot be ascertained (see Casualties profile). The Pakistan Army and security forces have been engaged in armed conflict in these areas of the country with the Pakistani Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and Baloch insurgents.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Pakistan is one of a small number of countries still producing antipersonnel mines.[9] Since 1997, Pakistan Ordnance Factories has produced detectable versions of hand-laid blast mines in order to be compliant with CCW Amended Protocol II.[10] In 2007, Pakistan reported that it “has also planned incorporation of self-destruct and self-deactivation mechanism in its future production” in order to meet Amended Protocol II requirements.[11] The protocol requires that all remotely-delivered mines have self-destruct and self-deactivation mechanisms. Pakistan reported in 2002 that it was developing a remotely-delivered antipersonnel mine system, but has provided no further details.[12] In 2007, Pakistan also stated that it had “met the deadlines to improve the specifications on detectability of mines” to be compliant with CCW Amended Protocol II.[13]

Pakistan’s Statutory Regulatory Order No. 123 (1) of 25 February 1999 makes the export of antipersonnel mines illegal.[14] The law penalizes the importation of mines, but no data is available regarding whether anyone has been arrested or charged under this law. Pakistan states that it has not exported mines “since early 1992.”[15] Recent Article 13 reports state simply that “no manufacturing or trade of landmines is allowed in the Private sectors.”[16] In the past, the country was a major exporter of mines. Pakistani-made mines have been found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sri Lanka.

In November and December 2013, Pakistani forces seized at least 4,050 antipersonnel mines, among other weapons near Chaman, Balochistan on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.[17]

There is no official information available on the size of Pakistan’s antipersonnel mine stockpile. In the past, the Monitor estimated that Pakistan stockpiles at least six million antipersonnel mines, the fifth largest stockpile in the world.[18] Pakistan has neither confirmed nor denied this estimate.

Destruction

During 2013, Pakistan reported destroying 8,184 antipersonnel mines, all of Pakistani manufacture.[19] Previously, during 2012 Pakistan destroyed 2,107 antipersonnel mines of United States, Pakistani, and unknown origin.[20] In 2011, it destroyed 153 antipersonnel mines; in 2010, Pakistan reported that a total of 43,248 antipersonnel mines were destroyed between 2000 and 2009.[21] Pakistan has not indicated if these mines are expiring stocks or from seizures, or both. Pakistan reiterated that the mines emplaced “during escalation of 2001–2002 on Pakistan’s Eastern Border have been completely cleared/removed/destroyed.”[22]

Policy

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Pakistan has never made a statement to articulate its view on accession to the ban convention, but has provided its views on cluster munitions. Pakistan argues that the problem with cluster munitions is not the weapon itself, but its “irresponsible use.”[1] It has recognized “serious humanitarian consequences” from the “indiscriminate use” of cluster munitions and “welcomed efforts to mitigate their negative consequences,” but views cluster munitions as legitimate weapons with military utility.[2] In 2010, Pakistan stated that it is opposed to the use of cluster munitions against civilians.[3] In 2009, a government official said that “in view of Pakistan’s security environment and legitimate defence needs, we do not support a ban on use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions due to their military utility.”[4]

Pakistan has previously expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be addressed through the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and not via “extra-UN mechanisms” such as the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] In 2011, the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference failed to conclude a protocol on cluster munitions, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument to specifically tackle the weapons. Yet Pakistan stated in October 2013 that it still sees the CCW as providing “an ideal platform to deal with the subject of cluster munitions since it harmonizes genuine humanitarian concerns with the security imperatives of states.”[6]

Pakistan did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and has not attended any of the regional or international diplomatic meetings related to the convention.[7]

Pakistan has however voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[8]

Pakistan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Pakistan is party to the CCW.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Pakistan has stated several times that it has never used cluster munitions.[9]

Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) produces and offers for export M483A1 155mm artillery projectiles containing 88 M42/M46 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) grenades.[10] The South Korean company Poongsan entered into a licensed production agreement with POF in 2004 to co-produce K-310 155mm extended-range DPICM projectiles in Pakistan at Wah Cantonment. While the ammunition is being produced for Pakistan’s army, the two firms have said they will also co-market the projectiles to export customers.[11] The Pakistani Army took delivery of the first production lots in 2008.[12]

Jane’s Information Group reports that the Pakistan Air Weapons Center produces the Programmable Submunitions Dispenser (PSD-1), which is similar to the United States (US) Rockeye cluster bomb and dispenses 225 anti-armor submunitions. Jane’s Information Group states that the Pakistan National Development Complex produces and markets the Hijara Top-Attack Submunitions Dispenser (TSD-1) cluster bomb. It lists the Pakistan Air Force as possessing BL-755 cluster bombs.[13] The US transferred 200 Rockeye cluster bombs to Pakistan at some point between 1970 and 1995.[14]

Pakistan has a longstanding export moratorium on antipersonnel landmines, but it does not have any similar measures in place to curb exports of cluster munitions.[15]

In September 2011, the London-based arms expo Defence & Security Equipment international (DSEi) permanently closed the POF stand and Pakistan’s Defence Export Promotion Organisation pavilion after promotional material was found at both locations listing cluster munitions available for sale.[16] Pakistani authorities reportedly stated that cluster munitions were not offered for sale by Pakistan at DSEi.[17] Similar concerns were raised during the 2009 DSEi arms fair, when POF was found to be advertising the 155mm extended range (base bleed) DPICM cluster munition.[18]

In 2011, Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and, as an interim step towards acceding, urged it to institute a prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions.[19]

Contamination and Impact

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan remains affected by mines and other ordnance from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–89) and three wars with India, but more recent and continuing conflicts in areas bordering Afghanistan have added further contamination.

Pakistan asserts that it “faces no problem of uncleared mines.” In supporting this statement, it acknowledges that the army laid mines on its eastern border with India during an escalation of tensions in 2001–02 but says those mines were all cleared and the army has not laid any more since then.[1] However, it has also reported IED attacks “including” antipersonnel mines and antivehicle mines.[2]

Mine Action Program

Pakistan has no formal civilian mine action program. Pakistani military engineering units are believed to be responsible for mine clearance in contaminated conflict zones while the Frontier Constabulary has said it conducts mine clearance in contaminated areas of Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and other conflict zones in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).[3]

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2013, the Monitor identified 220 casualties from mines/ERW including victim-activated IEDs in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Among 175 recorded civilian casualties, there were at least 45 children (23 boys and eight girls)[1] and 19 women. The vast majority of casualties were civilians, at 80%. Security forces represented 20% of the total, with 44 recorded casualties, including one military personnel killed and five injured when the landmine they were working to defuse exploded.[2] The 2013 figures were calculated from the database of Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO), which included at least 280 media reports of casualties of mines/ERW and IEDs in Pakistan for 2013; the difference in the total reported is due to the variation in media descriptions of the types of explosive devices used.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK, formerly North-West Frontier Province), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and Balochistan continued to have the highest numbers of mine/ERW casualties in Pakistan; the combined annual totals for these areas accounted for more than 95% of all mine/ERW casualties in Pakistan in 2013.[3]

The 2013 casualty total represented a decrease from the 247 mine/ERW casualties recorded in 2012 and still a very significant drop in the total number of annual casualties from the 569 mine/ERW casualties identified in 2011. However, given the considerable variation in the availability of annual casualty data over time, it is not possible to be certain of the extent to which changes in recorded casualties are indicative of actual trends versus shifts in media coverage and use of terminology.[4]

The number of annual casualties caused by antivehicle mines reported in 2013 (119) remained stable compared to 2012 (100) but still represents a significant drop from 2011 (293). However, antivehicle mine incidents continued to cause a significant portion of recorded casualties (56%) in 2013. The number and ratio of antivehicle mine casualties in 2011 were the highest since Monitor reporting of the differentiation between mine types began in 2006 (249).

The proportion of total mine/ERW casualties reported to have been caused by victim-activated IEDs (35) continued to be more than three times lower than recorded in 2010, when victim-activated IEDs caused more than half of all casualties. Prior to 2010, the ratio had been increasing since at least 2007.[5] In 2013, more than 80% of casualties caused by victim-activated IEDs were children playing with devices that resembled toys.

Due to the lack of official data or a comprehensive data-collection mechanism, the total number of casualties in Pakistan is not known. In its transparency reporting for 2013, Pakistan reiterated, as it had in previous years, that there had been no ERW casualties.[6] However, between 1999 and 2013 the Monitor identified at least 3,817 (1,433 killed; 2,291 injured; 93 unknown) from landmines, victim-activated IEDs, and ERW.[7] It is likely that the total number of casualties is much higher. Pakistan reported 1,596 “IED attacks” in 2013, “including” antipersonnel mines and antivehicle mines; of these attacks, 70% were said to have caused casualties. Pakistan officially reported that “No Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) exist in Pakistan.”[8]

Victim Assistance

The Monitor has identified 2,293 mine/ERW survivors in Pakistan since 1999.

Victim assistance in 2013

Access to services remains a challenge for most people with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, particularly those from rural areas. In particular, in FATA, KPK, and Balochistan, access to services, particularly medical care, continued to be restricted due to violence, government restrictions on access, and by security concerns arising from continued attacks on humanitarian and health workers which limited the ability of aid organizations to provide assistance.[9] Due to government reservations, restrictions on its operations, and significant security concerns marked by the kidnapping and murder of a staff member, the ICRC decreased most of its activities significantly in May 2012.[10] In 2013, the organization looked to consolidate its physical rehabilitation project.[11] Towards the end of the year, discussions with the government were well underway to expand the scope of activities of the ICRC in Pakistan.[12]

Assessing victim assistance needs

National NGOs including SPADO collected information on casualties and survivors as part of their broader program activities. In 2012 and 2013, SPADO reported that a combination of decreased funding, the security situation, and restrictions on its activities in FATA and KPK reduced its information gathering activities to media monitoring for new mine/ERW casualties.[13]

Victim assistance coordination

Pakistan reported that the Military Operations Directorate of the Pakistan Army was the focal point for victim assistance, but also asserted that there were no casualties. It was not indicated if the Military Operations Directorate was responsible for both military and civilian survivors.[14] Pakistan has also reported that a “procedure/program” for victims of IEDs is in place through individual rehabilitation programs including emergency and ongoing medical care, physical rehabilitation at army medical units and hospitals, and economic reintegration through monetary compensation and employment. However, it was not reported if civilians could access these services.[15] In 2013, it was reported that opportunities to liaise with national authorities and other stakeholders on a data collection network and legal frameworks comprehensively addressing the issue of weapon contamination remained limited, given the prevailing political and security sensitivities.[16]

Several ministries were involved in disability issues, including the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.[17] Responsibility for inclusive education, social welfare, and the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities was passed to the provincial level after the dissolution of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education in April 2011.[18] Pakistan has a National Policy for Persons with Disabilities (2002–2025).

Pakistan did not provide updates on victim assistance services (including rehabilitation programs) or on coordination in its most recent Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Protocol V Article 10 report and CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report.[19]

Survivor participation and inclusion

No information was available about the inclusion of mine/ERW survivors in coordination, implementation, or monitoring of strategies that are relevant to them. However, the government planned to include persons with disabilities, along with national and international NGOs, in formulating an action plan for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[20]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[21]

Emergency and continuing medical care

Local hospitals were inadequately equipped and staffed to respond to the needs of survivors, lacking specialized medical, surgical, and first aid facilities for affected areas.[22] People living in remote areas and those displaced or directly affected by conflict suffer from a critical lack of medical services.[23]

Despite existing needs, ICRC activities to improve the availability and quality of services throughout the casualty care chain in 2013 were heavily restricted. The ICRC field surgical hospital in Peshawar remained closed in 2013 and training courses on handling weapon wounds could not be conducted.[24] The Pakistan Red Crescent Society received material and financial support from the ICRC to strengthen its five basic health units and one mobile health unit, where treatment and care were provided to respond to the needs of the population in Balochistan, FATA and KPK.[25]

MSF noted that health services in Pakistan were often not affordable. In many regions, insecurity further restricted access to services. In KPK, near the Pakistan-Afghan border MSF teams also managed the emergency and surgical services of the Hangu Tehsil Headquarters hospital, run since 2012 by the Ministry of Health. Populations affected by conflict, including Afghan refugees, often sought medical assistance in the district hospital of Chaman, Balochistan province, also operated by MSF, which reported that 17% of patients treated in the emergency room in 2013 were victims of conflict.[26]

Physical rehabilitation including prosthetics

Access to rehabilitation services remains a challenge for most people with disabilities, particularly those in rural areas. Barriers to access services included transport, poverty, lack of awareness about services, cultural and physical barriers, illiteracy, and the security situation. In 2013, more mine/ERW survivors (724 of 2,578 beneficiaries in total) received prosthetics at ICRC-supported rehabilitation centers.[27] However, this remained a significant decrease in the number of mine/ERW survivors receiving services compared to recent years.[28]

The Christian Hospital Rehabilitation Centre in Quetta reopened under the management of the national disability and rehabilitation NGO CHAL Foundation after having closed shortly after the 2012 kidnapping and murder of an ICRC health delegate in the area.[29] The ICRC maintained its support for the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences (PIPOS) and its seven satellite centers; for the CHAL Foundation and its four centers in the northwest and Balochistan; for the Paraplegic Centre Hayatabad (PCH) in Peshawar; as well as for the Muzaffarabad Physical Rehabilitation Centre which was handed over to the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as an autonomous center in November 2013. The ICRC also provided support on an ad hoc basis to the Akbar Kare Institute in Peshawar and to the Children’s Amputee Rehabilitation Program (C-ARP). House-bound patients in KPK benefited from care, home nursing kits, and house-modification services provided by the PCH. It was also reported that in 2013 patients treated at ICRC-supported centers had much shorter waits for prostheses and orthoses, thanks to improved production capacities. The centers increased production collectively by 123% compared to 2012, partly owing to ICRC-sponsored scholarships, sharing of staff experiences between the centers, and practical mentoring. Overall, in 2013 16,836 people benefited from physical rehabilitation services at ICRC-assisted centers, which represented an increase of 82% compared to 2012.[30]

Rehabilitation services for military survivors of mines/IEDs and ERW were available through army hospitals. Complicated cases were referred to the Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine.[31] The quality of prosthesis received was based on military rank rather than need.[32]

Social and economic inclusion

In 2013, the ICRC assisted in the establishment of sporting events, as well as of cricket and basketball teams, to promote inclusion of persons with physical disabilities receiving services within the network of assisted centers. The PCH also had a skills development program which included a mobile phone repair setup as well as sewing skills development where ICRC donated manual sewing machines to the trainees who displayed a capacity to earn an income from tailoring and sewing after discharge.[33]

Pakistan had previously reported that IED survivors were provided with monetary compensation, employment, and commercial or agricultural property. No figures were provided on the number of survivors who received assistance, or on how many were civilian or military.[34] In January 2014, the provincial government of Balochistan passed a new compensation law for civilian victims of terrorism and armed conflict which enables victims to get assistance within 15 days through a new “Civilian Victims Fund.” The new legislation also includes an appeals process and government-funded medical care while providing dependents of the victims with continued economic assistance including education. The new law explicitly prohibits discrimination of any type against victims.[35] As of May 2014, rules to guide implementation of the law still needed to be formulated.[36]

Few psychological support and economic inclusion programs were available in Pakistan.[37]

The government declared the federal capital and provincial capitals as “disabled-friendly cities.” It established 127 special education centers were established in main cities. Employment quotas for persons with disabilities lacked adequate enforcement. Most persons with disabilities were supported by their families. The law provides for equality of the rights of persons with disabilities, but this was not fully implemented in practice.[38]

Pakistan ratified the CRPD on 5 July 2011.

Support for Mine Action

Pakistan is affected by mines and other ordnance from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–1989) and three wars with India. Areas bordering Afghanistan, however, are affected by a variety of contamination from more recent and continuing conflict, including not only mines, but also unexploded ordnance (UXO) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).[1]

In 2011, the European Commission (EC) provided Handicap International with €247,955 (US$345,426) for risk education (RE).[2] Since 2009, the EC has contributed €3,214,230 (US$4,364,350) to RE projects in Pakistan. All international contributions toward mine action in Pakistan since 2009 went towards RE.

Summary of international contributions in 2009–2011[3]