ERW/UXO/IEDs are still posing a threat in Nepal
Purna Shova Chitrakar
(An unofficial translation of a media article)
It has been 15 years since the peace agreement in Nepal. The demining team of the Nepali Army is continuously removing or destroying ERW/UXO/IEDs laid during the conflict. However, the weapons are still posing a threat to people in various places. Whenever these hidden weapons are unwittingly activated, civilians and children are mutilated, injured or killed. The death of four children in Rolpa, the explosion in Surkhet, the confiscation of large quantities of explosives in Lalitpur, the discovery of hidden explosives in Dailekh, Rukum and Beni and the explosions at various places are vivid examples of the fact that such weapons are still prevalent throughout Nepal. According to a report from the security sector, explosive ordinances were found in 479 places throughout the country during the 2074 BS general election.
The survivors of mine/IEDs discussed in various meetings on the threat of mine/UXO/IEDs and shared their experiences on 4-20 July 2022.
According to them, an explosive was found 2 years ago in the Sadhi riverbank of Kaski district. During the conflict, Kalikot district was one of the districts worst affected by them. Due to the many conflicts fought there during that period, grenades and other explosive devices are found from time to time even after the cessation of conflict. 5 years ago in the district headquarters, two children playing nearby found two grenades. When they were playing with them, they exploded, and both the children were killed. A few years ago in that same district, a socket bomb exploded while the area was being dug to make a pond near the riverside. Two children were killed in that explosion when they came to take a bath in the river. It is clear that people in these regions are still scared. The Nepali army, police, and district administration have continued their risk education programs there.
On Baishak 18, 2077 at six o'clock in the evening in Garigaon of Rolpa, Vijay Khatri - 5 and Bimala Khatri - 11, son of Lal Bahadur Khatri resident of Triveni rural municipality were all killed on the spot in an explosion.
On the 6th of Kartik 2078, there was an explosion at Birendranagar 7, Katkuwa community building in Surkhet district at nine in the morning, when a group of people went to look for grass and firewood. Two teenagers among them were injured around the firing range area of the Naya Sabuj Police Camp when they stepped on an ‘oblong’ explosive device which exploded. 14-year-old Naresh Nepali and 19-year-old Leela Nepali were both injured. Naresh suffered eye injuries. Both live in Birendranagar Municipality Ward No. 7.
Only recently, a rocket launcher was found in Beni, a remnant of conflict. News of incidents of landmine explosions are prevalent in Rukum, Kalikot, Salyan, Rolpa and Jajarkot. Socket bombs and home-made explosives discarded by the then Maoists are scattered everywhere in the forest.
On 18 July 2079 around 5 pm on Tuesday, people who were going to look for herbs called Jimbu found a strange object at a lake called Pang near Tetang, Wargung Muktikshetra Rural Municipality 3 of Mustang. There were 25 people searching for Jimbu (Herbal). After finishing their work in the afternoon, they took shelter in a cave. While searching for firewood, they found something strange, and they tried to investigate. In that process, 4 young people were injured by a sudden explosion. The injured were Tejendra Roka (23), Res Bahadur Budha Magar (22), Tika Budha Magar (19) and Dilip Rokka Magar (25), all of Dawang village, Ward No. 3, Malika Rural Municipality, Myagdi district. After the incident Res Bahadur Budha Magar and Tika Budha Magar were given normal treatment and returned home, while Tejendra and Dilip were recommended for hospital. The rural municipality of Mustang helped them get to the hospital and receive treatment.
According to the MPs of that area, the explosives may have been left during the Khampa uprising 37 years ago. According to him, various bombs and rotten gun barrels had been found periodically from that timeframe. They said that they found 6 hand grenades in that place and the army is currently involved in an investigation regarding the weapons.
NCBL shared the article which was published on 24 May 2022, which share the information about the ERW/UXO and ongoing use of Improvised Explosive Devices ( बिस्फोटनको भयमा कतिञ्जेल? - Sapta Kiran)
According to the article, during the local level elections held in Baisakh 2079, 10,756 polling stations and 21,955 polling centers were designated in the 753 electorates. Among them, 2,946 were designated as highly sensitive, 4,423 as sensitive and 3,387 as non- sensitive areas (Online Radio Nepal). The government deployed 168,000 security personnel for the election (The Nepalese Voice). That much is good news. But according to the news given by the media, explosives were used in many parts of Nepal both before and during the election They were found unattended and were subsequently recovered. While analyzing the explosives found in 20 locations, those explosives have affected 16 districts namely Rupandehi, Dailekh, Surkhet, Banke, Kathmandu, Kanchanpur, Baitadi, Ethari, Jhapa, Rukum, Humla, Kailali, Saptari, Bhaktapur, Dang, Taplejung. They were found around roads used by civilians, business areas, shops, nearby election candidate houses, forests, civilian-owned land, rented buildings and polling stations.
In the news, nine out of 20 explosives are only named as bombs without mentioning what kind of explosives they are. Socket bombs were found at six locations, twine bombs were found at two locations, and pipe, cylinder, and pressure cooker bombs were found at one location each. This shows that socket bombs have been used the most, around 30 percent of the total known cases. It has been found that 7 out of 20 are remnants of conflict. This number is around 35 percent. Out of the 8 found, 7 were deactivated by the Nepali Army, while in the case of Bhaktapur, the local police handled the deactivation. It seems that common people are aware that explosive substances should be reported. Most of the time, they reported to the ward office first, the ward office informed the police, which in turn informed the army. The Army arrived at the site along with all the preparations and deactivated or destroyed it. More than 200 soldiers with deactivation skills according to international standards (International Mine Action Standard), UN-recognized platforms, with modern tools, deactivation capabilities and information management systems have been trained by the Nepali Army.
The groups that have used explosives to date are CPN (Maoist), Jan Mukti Sena Party, Himal Security Council, Haralung Group, Congress Front of Nepal, Kirat Limbuan Ratriya Parishad, Limbuan Muktimorcha Rashtriya Party, CPN (Shivadi).
Among the main demands of the user groups that have used explosive substances have been for election boycott, boycott of the Millenium Challenge Cooperation (MCC), opposition to federalism, establishment of Hindu state, establishment of regional and caste states, as well as for terrorism and looting.
The truth is that after the peace agreement was signed in Nepal in 2006 and Nepal was declared as a mine-free country on June 14, 2011, there remains an illusion among political parties as well as the international community that there are no more problems with landmines and explosive devices in Nepal. However, there is a lack of publicity about the fact that people and children are still not completely safe in the areas affected by conflict in the past.