Reuters-FEATURE-Landmines dot Bangl

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Reuters-FEATURE-Landmines dot Bangladesh-Myanmar borders 

FEATURE-Landmines dot Bangladesh-Myanmar borders
09:31 p.m Jun 12, 1999 Eastern
By Anis Ahmed

DARGAHBIL, Bangladesh, June 13 (Reuters) - Landmines strewn along
Bangladesh's borders with Myanmar have killed at least 50 people and maimed
hundreds over the last five years, locals say.

The mines, laid either side of the border which runs mostly through deep
forests, have also killed 25 or more elephants.

Villagers said after a few people were blown up retrieving the corpses, they
sometimes left behind their dead relatives in the jungles.

But their agony has failed to catch the attention of those campaigning
against landmines worldwide. No help has arrived for the Bangladeshi
victims.

``Death may be quietly waiting to get me just anywhere I put my steps
outside my home,'' said Jainal Abedin of Dargahbil village, near the
frontier.

``I am not the victim of a war but a victim of grinding poverty that draws
me close to the mines,'' said the 22-year-old, who was maimed by a landmine
explosion.

Abedin and his friends used to go into the forests to cut wood and bamboo
which they sold for rice and other provisions.

``I don't have any land to grow crops, a net to fish in the water or money
to start a business. So I found a living in the forests,'' Abedin told
Reuters, displaying his left leg, amputated below the knee as the result of
a mine blast two years ago.

``I and a couple of my friends trekked to the forest on the hills along the
frontier to collect the body of my brother who died in a mine explosion,''
he said.

ABEDIN LOSES A LEG

``As we neared the body...we were hit by another blast and my leg was blown
off. My friends also received various degrees of injuries.''

After that, villagers said they did not attempt to bring home their dead.
``We don't exactly know the zero line (the border) or where the mines have
been laid,'' said Tofael of the same village. ``We thought it's better to
keep a safe distance.''

Lt-Colonel Zahiruddin Mohammad Babar of the Bangladesh Rifles border guards,
said: ``Sometimes it's difficult for the riflemen to recognise the exact
boundary. The demarcation lines have passed through inaccessible forests.''


As Abedin and Tofael spoke, a few other landmine victims gathered around,
pleading for help or at least a promise to send word of their plight to the
world.

Mostly illiterate, they asked who was the right person to approach for help
since Britain's Princess Diana had died.

``We had been hoping that some day she will come to Bangladesh. We heard she
was trying to help the mine victims and their families,'' said villager
Abdul Karim.

Local reporters said at least 50 people had been killed and 150 injured
since 1994 by landmines laid by Myanmar troops along the borders with
Bangladesh.

Security officials confirmed 34 deaths but said many could have gone
unreported. ``It's difficult terrain and getting all the information may not
be possible,'' one official said.

MINES LAID TO HUNT INSURGENTS

The landmines were apparently intended to trap or scare away Myanmar Moslem
insurgents believed to be hiding in Bangladeshi territory.

Bangladesh border guards said the Myanmar security forces planted ``hundreds
of mines'' along the borders trying to restrict the movement of the
insurgents.

``The minefields have not been marked...this is a nuisance on the part of
Myanmar authorities. This violates the Geneva convention,'' Lt-Colonel Babar
said.

He denied there were Myanmar insurgents in Bangladesh. ``Our land is free
from any foreign insurgents,'' he said.

``We have, at a series of meetings with NASAKA (Myanmar troops), urged them
to remove the mines because they pose a threat to our people, especially
those who go to the jungles to collect wood and bamboo.''

``They would simply deny they have laid mines. Instead, they say there is a
possibility the insurgents have planted bombs to trap Myanmar soldiers,'' he
added.

``But we have definite proof of the NASAKA having planted the mines,'' Babar
said, without giving details.

Army officials said they had information the mines also killed people inside
Myanmar and the victims were poor villagers scrabbling for a living.