Pakistan to mine, fence Afghan border

Pakistan is has once again prepared a plan to fence the border with Afghanistan with barbed wires and landmines to stop the militant infiltration from Afghanistan. The plan has been prepared after the recent cross-border attacks in the border areas of Upper Dir, Mohmand Agency and Bajaur Agency, reported BBC on Thursday. The uthorities say wherever possible Pakistan would use barbed wires to stop illegal cross-border movement and landmines would be used only is such areas where it is impossible to lay wires. The public face of Pakistan Army, the ISPR told BBC that there is a 2,400-km-long border between the two countries and this whole stretch cannot be manned, therefore, fencing is being considered. To a question the ISPR spokesperson said that it is not that fencing would stop infiltration all together but militants would get a tough time and the overall volume and frequency of militant infiltration would decline. He said the plan is in its consultation stage and it will be discussed at different forums with different interest groups, including the Afghans. According to BBC correspondent, there have been three major cross-border militant attacks in past one month in which the police, the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and Levies have suffered a considerable human and material loss. The plan to fence the border with Afghanistan has been considered twice in the past, once in 2007 and then in 2009, but it was not fully implemented. Authorities say that at that time only a total of 35-km-long portion was fenced and the work was discontinued for lack of funds. The measure was then denounced by the Afghan government, the Nato/Isaf forces and the people living on both sides as they said it would divide the population living on both sides of the border. which not only related by blood but also share many resources in areas across the border. And, this time too, Pakistan may face a stiff resistance on the issue. Anti-landmine activists are concerned that Pakistans plan to mine its western border with Afghanistan will increase the landmine casualties. Should the contentious plan go ahead, communities on both sides of the border will see many more victims, given significant population flows, they say. According to a former Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations, more than 14 million people cross the border annually. Scores of Afghans and Pakistanis have fallen victim to anti-personnel mines laid along the border during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. Islamabad is not a signatory to 1997 Ottawa Convention, an international agreement prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their production. The regional security environment and its military requirements have constrained Pakistan from joining the Ottawa Treaty, a Foreign Ministry official said. Since our long borders are not protected by any natural obstacle, the use of landmines forms an important part of our self-defence strategy given the nature of our security compulsions [to the east]. Pakistan remains among a handful of countries that still produce mines. It is estimated the country has stockpiles of at least six million anti-personnel mines, the fifth-largest stockpile in the world, according to the Landmine Monitor Report (2006), although no official confirmation of these numbers has ever been given.