Alal Sakhan village is a village where the majority of Mon ethnic people live. There are hundreds of houses and they are mainly engaged in gardening. It is a small village located at the beginning of the border of Tanintharyi Region and the end of Mon State in Southern Myanmar.
Most of the people living in this village are gardeners. But villagers are abandoning their gardens. Some are venturing into their gardens with full of anxiety.
Since 2018, villagers have been hit by landmines. Roads were being blown up in their usual places of residence and land, and some were dying and others were living with disabilities.
A villager of Alal Sakhan village, Mr. Kom Ply is now disabled. In 2018, he stepped on a mine in his garden near the village. Now he never sets foot in his yard.
“I did not expect a mine to be planted in front of the tent,” Mr. Kom Ply said, looking at the wound on his leg. Kom Ply is now 35 years old. He lives in the village with his wife and 5-year-old daughter.
His garden is dominated by betel trees. Tent has also been set up for temporary living in the garden. They spend the day gardening, resting in tent. But one day in October 2018, his life changed. As usual, he was walking around his yard when he stepped on a landmine. It was about 10 feet in front of his tent.
“As soon as I hit the mine, I could not see anything,” he said. He was hit by a landmine two years ago, when he was 33.
Unlike most mine victims, Kom Ply does not have to have its legs amputated, but it does go through life with an abnormal body structure. He has to walk on halting.
He had to pay for medical bills and lost his income because he could no longer work in the gardening business. Creditors are also trying to seize his family home and farm. With the help of some social organizations, he has been able to open a betel nut shop in front of his house and earn a living for his family.
Armed groups in the area have denied any involvement in the landmines, although it has been almost two years since Kom Ply was stepped on mined. One thing is for sure, Kom Ply has been crippled by landmines. His main family business, gardening, was lost.
The only armed groups in the area are the government army, New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Karen National Union (KNU). These groups have signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement and are in peace talks.
“Please do not plant landmines in the gardens,” Kom Ply apologized, referring to landmine owners.
According to the Myanmar Landmine Monitoring group, from 2007 to 2019, 90% of all explosions were caused by landmines.
According to the report, most people were injured and killed by landmines as a result of migration and travel to the area where the landmines were located. Other reasons include going into the forest, hunting, collecting forestry products, farming and forced labor in landmines contaminated area.
There are 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar. This is an official government statement. However, it is arguable that number of ethnic groups can be even more. The tribes have been fighting for self-determination for almost 80 years now and the civil war is still going on.
As a result of this civil war, ethnic groups, including the government army, have been fighting. Landmines are used interchangeably. So far, no peace agreement has been signed nationwide.
Landmines are still being used by ethnic armed groups who have not yet signed a formal ceasefire with the government, ethnic armed groups that have signed a formal ceasefire with the government, ethnic militias and government army.
Observers say government forces produce and use landmines in their munitions factories, as well as buying from the US, Italy, Russia, India, China and other unnamed sources.
Non-governmental armed groups, on the other hand, use landmines which is their home-made landmines, re-use landmines, and the one purchased on the black market.
Landmines leave most people disabled for the rest of their lives. Some are armed soldiers who have been mined in battle. Some were forcibly captured by the armed forces during the war and used to clear mines as human shields. Some are ordinary civilians who have been mined somewhere in the forest while going to their farms.
Since independence in 1948, armed clashes between government and non-governmental ethnic groups have spread across the country, with Myanmar being the second largest country in the world in terms of landmine use.
Regime forces have officially said in parliament that landmines have been used in areas near the military base in the remote border area, using landmines.
Other ethnic armed groups have also used landmines for similar purposes. These conditions indicate that landmine use continues to rise in Myanmar.
To this day, fighting between government forces and ethnic armed groups continues. As a result, landmine use rates are rising, observers say.
Armed clashes between the Arakan Army and government forces have been on the rise in western Rakhine State since 2015.
Mr. Than Hla, a leader of the Rakhine Civil Society Network in the area, said that government troops based in the area were abducting local people and using them to clear landmines during military operations.
“Some villagers have returned to the village, but others have not returned at all,” said Than Hla. He said some were killed by landmines.
On March 1, 2019, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet condemned the use of landmines by government and non-government armed groups in Myanmar
In the world, 164 countries have signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Landmines. In addition, 120 countries have ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Weapons. However, Myanmar has not signed either agreement.
Government troops and ethnic armed groups have agreed to end landmines once a nationwide ceasefire is signed. However, on the ground, landmines continue to be used by armed groups who’s signed on ceasefire agreement.
“Despite the ceasefire agreement, the demarcation of the border has not been clearly defined, so landmines are being planted to intimidate people into leaving the area,” said Aung Naing Oo, vice-speaker of the regional parliament. He described the situation in the area he visited.
He has also been leading in resolving the issue of civilian affected by landmines.
It has been a decade since Myanmar’s transition from military rule to democracy since 2010. Landmine watchdogs say nearly 1,900 people have been killed by landmines this decade.
According to more than a decade of surveillance, 61% of all landmine-affected civilians in Myanmar are men. 6% are women; 7% are children.
According to research records, out of 330 townships in Myanmar, 93 townships are affected by landmines. This index for Myanmar shows one-third are described as minefields.
When most men are hit by landmines, their dependents find it difficult to make ends meet. In Myanmar society, wives and children depend on the income of the head of the household. If the head of the household is ill or dead, the rest of the family struggles to survive.
After a landmine hit, Kom Ply could no longer function properly and lost his garden. He is just trying to get his new business, a betel nut shop, to sell regularly. His day-to-day sales earn him a living for his family.
He continues to fulfill his role as head of the household. Here is what he said about the landmines that plague his life.
“This is the luck of the past life.”
— Kyaw Soe —
A journalist based in Myanmar.
Student of Diploma in Visual Journalism — The Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University
