May 30, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17,1423

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GENEVA, May 29: Rising tensions between India and Pakistan have brought renewed fears that two of the world’s largest landmine producers are deploying more of the weapons along their common border, campaigners said on Wednesday.

“While not trying to downplay the dangers of nuclear apocalypse we’re also concerned about the fact that these two countries appear to be engaged in one of the largest mine laying operations ever,” Steven Goose of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said.

India and Pakistan are respectively the fifth and sixth largest landmine “powers” in the world, with an estimated stockpile of about 11 million landmines between them.

Parts of the border between the two countries are already regarded as some of the most densely-mined areas in the world, with anti-personnel mines repeatedly laid as a defensive cordon by both sides during the decades-long standoff over Kashmir.—AFP