The army has cleared landmines in a big area of agricultural land on the Line of Control (LoC) and returned it to the people of Shamwan village in Jammu.
The army has cleared landmines in a big area of agricultural land on the Line of Control (LoC) and returned it to the people of Shamwan village in Jammu.
The land had been occupied by the army soon after the attack on parliament in 2001. Thousands of soldiers had been mobilised along the Indo-Pak border as part of Operation Parakram. Its prime objective is unclear, but appears to have been done to prepare for a nuclear conflict with Pakistan. As part of that operation, mines had been laid in 28,000 kanals of land (20 kanals make one hectare) spread across 21 villages in the Palanwala-Akhnoor sector. Of these, 717.19 kanals were de-mined and handed over to the people at a ceremony in Pallanwala on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, army authorities handed over the formal documents to the deputy commissioner (Jammu) MK Dwivedi in front of deputy chief minister Tara Chand and general officer commanding (GoC) 10th division, major general K Majumdar.
“De-mining work started on October 19, 2009. It will continue in other areas,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Biplab Nath, the defence ministry spokesman, in Jammu.
De-mining was hard work, since the mines had been planted deep in the agricultural land to make the movement of Pakistani army difficult. “It took them [engineers] months to de-mine this stretch. They had to be extremely cautious as they wanted to avoid casualties,” said a local official.
Pawan Kotwal, the divisional commander of Jammu said there are 13 minefields in the area, of which the army has so far cleared two-and-a-half. The rest will be cleared by June. “We hope farmers will use this land for cultivation once all mines are cleared,” Kotwal said.
The move has made farmers happy. “Smiles at least have returned back on some of the farmers. We hope others too will be able to get their lands back”, said a senior officer of the area.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}