January 11, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 20, 1427

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LAHORE, Jan 10: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has demanded that the government sign the 1997 Mines Ban Treaty and resolve disputes with Kabul through dialogue.

The HRCP welcomed the government’s decision to review the plan to lay landmines on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to a statement issued by the HRCP on Wednesday.

HRCP Vice Chairperson Kamran Arif said that signing of the Mine Ban Treaty already ratified by 151 nations would end the ignominious status of Pakistan as one of the few countries still manufacturing landmines. The government should not only stop manufacturing mines but also destroy the existing stockpiles so that no further victims could be claimed by the terrible weapons which had killed and maimed many people in the region and elsewhere in the world.

He said the HRCP was appalled that the draconian plan, which violated all humanitarian standards and international agreements, had been proposed at the highest level in Pakistan. The authorities knew the divided tribes and even families in both Afghanistan and Pakistan crossed the border for gatherings and tribal events without needing any travel documents.

He said that it was also shocking that the authors of the land mining plan forgot that children played in areas along the border which was not demarcated at many places.

He said the issue of cross border militancy as alleged by Afghanistan and Pakistan’s plan to tackle it through fencing and mining could not be acknowledged.

Militancy needed to be tackled through holistic policies which addressed the socio-economic issue and notions of injustice which were spurring it on, he said.