75,000 landmines removed

Over 1,700 persons have lost limbs in landmine explosions :

Mohammed NAALIR

COLOMBO: A total of 75,000 anti-personnel landmines have been removed from areas affected by terrorism, Chairman of the National Steering Committee on Humanitarian De-mining at the Nation Building Ministry N.S. Jayasinghe said yesterday.

He said 95 per cent of anti-personnel landmines have been removed from Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.

Senior Project Officer of Support to Mine Action Project Programme Management Unit of United Nations Development Programme Niloufer de Silva said more than 1,700 persons have lost their limbs due to landmine explosions.

Addressing a media briefing in Colombo, he said due to the ongoing conflict, the de-mining of landmines has temporarily stopped.

“Even-though landmines in the Mannar District have been removed with Indian assistance, there is a suspicion that the LTTE has again placed landmines in the district,” he added.

Jayasinghe said that excluding the High Security Zones in the Jaffna District, land mines have been removed from most parts of the district.

He said the LTTE was laying landmines in several areas while Government Forces never resorted to things like this.

De-mining will take place in Iraidaikulam in the Batticaloa District and Puliyankulam and Palaithivu in the Mannar District in next year.

Project Manager of Humanitarian De-mining Unit Imthiyas Ismail said the de-mining of landmines is an elaborate task.

Ismail said landmines have been removed from a 17 billion square metre area in the liberated areas including the recently liberated Eastern Province.

He said the people in Kanthasamy Nagar, Kuppiyagama, Chekkdipulavu, Ammiwaitthan, Ellamaruthukulam, Demetawewa, Pulliadichcholai, Poonagar, Echalampattu, Sankankuli, Diyatittawewa and Yan Oya have been resettled after the landmines were removed.