Jammu, Sep 22 (IANS) Three rusted mines were detected and safely destroyed in J&K’s Poonch district on Tuesday, officials said.
The mines were recovered by army personnel while carrying out some work in the Phagwari Gali area near the border village of Dharana Basoni in the Mendhar sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch, the officials said.
The recovered explosive items were safely disposed of by the Army’s bomb disposal team without causing any damage.
As part of the counter-infiltration strategy, the army uses landmines to plug the possible infiltration routes, and sometimes the explosive devices get dislocated due to rains.
The menace of landmines along the LoC in the border regions of Jammu and Kashmir remains a critical humanitarian, economic, and security challenge. Originally deployed as part of India’s strategic anti-infiltration obstacle system to block cross-border militant routes, these anti-personnel mines heavily impact local border communities and security personnel.
One of the most persistent issues is that landmines do not stay where they were originally planted. Due to J&K’s rugged topography, heavy monsoon rains, flash floods, earthquakes, and landslides regularly dislodge these explosives.
These “drift mines” migrate down mountain slopes into civilian farmlands, grazing pastures, and walking tracks, turning unmarked zones into active hazards.
While intended to deter infiltrators, historical and ongoing trends indicate that the primary victims are local civilians and security forces conducting area-domination patrols.
Troops frequently encounter accidental detonations during routine patrolling or defusing operations. Notable incidents include multiple injuries to soldiers in the Uri sector and Poonch district in July and August this year, respectively, due to shifted mines.
Local porters, guides, and children are highly vulnerable. Decades after initial deployment, younger generations remain largely unaware of the exact placement of minefields, sometimes mistaking exposed ordnance for toys.
Vast tracts of fertile land near the LoC lie completely barren because entering them carries the risk of death or permanent disability.
–IANS
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