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11 year old, Arumugan Ganeshkaram severely injured both her hands in an anti-personnel mine explosion, while playing in a garden close to her home in Vantharamoolai-Chenkalady, Batticaloa. This is yet another violation of human rights by the LTTE who disrupt and victimise the lives of innocent civilians, in their ruthless struggle for a separate homeland in the country. The anti-personnel mine was identified as a locally made one, which would have been laid by the LTTE some time back targeting the armed forces. This incident adds to the list of violations and bloody murders of the LTTE who claim to be fighting for the Tamil people, but are in reality chasing them away from their homes in search of security. The severe injuries caused to young Arumugam has terrified the local population, who live in fear of being the next victim of an LTTE anti-personnel mine. It is suspected that the Tigers have laid mines indiscriminately in the surrounding areas. The Security Forces are making arrangements to clear these areas to avoid any unfortunate incidents to civilians, military sources revealed. The UN Mine Action Project began in the country in July 1999 and was expanded in early 2000, but had to be suspended in April 2000 due to the conflict. A total of 214,541 square meters of land had been cleared. The project revealed that there were at least several hundred civilian mine casualties in 1999. “ Any use of mines is to be condemned,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), Coordinator, Elisabeth Bernstein said adding that Landmine Monitor findings include more than 22 million anti-personnel mines destroyed, including some 10 million since March 1999, globally. Landmine Monitor is an unprecedented initiative by the ICBL to monitor implementation of and compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and more generally to assess the efforts of the international community to resolve the land mine crisis.
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