Butterflies that kill

Written by Kinza Mujeeb • October 2010

4-1 The magnitude of man's progress is unbelievably vast. Man has mastered the skill of blending nature with technology. But it is depressing to witness one group of humans channelizing all their energy, talent and skill to completely rip apart another group of human beings.

Disguised as a butterfly and designed to flutter to the ground, the killer ‘butterfly' mine attracts innocent children who are oblivious of the danger descending upon them. They run towards it and catch it. The wings of the ‘butterfly' are filled with liquid explosive designed to ignite and explode at the slightest contact. And so the child's attempt to catch the beautiful ‘butterfly' results in the slicing off of his hand. This inhuman design is, ironically, a display of superior technology and an exploitation of human nature. And that was also the most distressing way of showing one nation's desire to dominate over another.

For decades, explosive mines like these have been used in Afghanistan as a ruthless killer that has taken an estimated 2000 to 4000 lives every year, while leaving many more victims terribly maimed. More than 90 per cent of those who were injured due to a mine explosion, needed below-knee amputation. Poor medical facilities along with inadequate infrastructure increase the distress caused to the victims of the terrible device.

Mines and unexploded ordnance are found in Afghanistan in every conceivable area. Due to a mountainous terrain, help is rarely available in many regions. A number of incidents of mine explosion remain unknown and thus, the victims remain deprived of any form of aid. Many bleed to death or, owing to inadequate infrastructure, have to be carried on some one's back to the nearest medical facility. Due to shortage of proper transportation and absence of medical facilities, many have to rely on traditional treatment given by locals. But they lack sufficient knowledge required to treat such serious injuries.

Afghanistan is among the three most heavily mined countries. It has, therefore, been funded by many for its demining effort. One of the major foreign charitable demining group is Halo Trust, providing around 2000 deminers. Several international organizations such as mine Clearance Programme (MCP), UN Mine Action Centre and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology (EODT) have contributed to mine clearing. Moreover, EODT has also trained and employed local Afghan deminers. The orthopedics centre of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has distributed and fitted plastic artificial limbs without any charges since 1988.

Many organizations have joined hands in tackling the situation arising out of extensive mining in Afghanistan. After more than two decades of war, Afghan resembles a huge minefield with 600,000 to 10 million mines and unexploded bombs. Experts believe that even after years of exhaustive demining, around 11 per cent of the country is still threatened by unexploded mines, shells and grenades.

Various conferences, attended by international donors, were held in Kabul in which the Afghan government made appeals to strengthen the flow of donations. But these conferences and these appeals have not given any valuable results. The presence of corruption and mismanagement in the Afghan government has been a powerful reason to raise suspicions in the eyes of the donors. These conferences, therefore, only create an illusion of progress in the demining effort.

Regenerating the crippled infrastructure and facilitating the process of poverty alleviation while making efforts to eradicate drug trade, corruption, violence and all forms of illicit activities, is an extremely challenging task. These problems are interwoven, making it a huge mass of obstacle on the way to improvement in the demining situation. But the only logical option seems to be an intensified extensive demining effort.