‘How many more people will be maimed before mine explosions stop?’

Tambru Headman Para in Ghummdhum, Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, is along the border road. On one side of the road is a small shop. About 300 yards from the shop, the barbed wire fence of the Myanmar border is clearly visible. Behind the shop are undulating hills. Below, paddy fields are spread out.

Loose betel leaves and areca nuts are scattered in front of the shop. On the side rack and behind are various types of biscuits, small bottles of soybean oil, and small 10-taka packs of powdered milk. Inside, a young man aged about 30 was serving customers. Next to him leaned a pair of crutches, the reason he had to sit while doing everything—the young man’s left leg is missing, lost in a mine explosion.

To understand how people who lost legs in mine explosions along the border are living, this correspondent visited Ukhiya and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar and Naikhongchhari in Bandarban over the past several days. In Ghummdhum’s Tambru Headman Para, Antai’s story was heard last Wednesday afternoon when the customer crowd was a bit thin. Sitting amid the colourful packs of chewing products, Antai told his story of going from a jhum farmer to a shopkeeper after losing his leg.

It was April 2023, during the Biju festival. Hills were alive with celebrations. During this period, hill people cut the jungle to prepare jhum land. Antai had gone to work in the jhum field. Suddenly, after the explosion, he remembers nothing. After several months in the hospital and returning with crutches, his life changed. He could never work in the jhum fields again. Therefore, taking a loan, he set up a shop beside the border road.

Antai told Prothom Alo that his treatment cost about Tk 200,000. Establishing the shop cost around Tk 70,000—all from loans. He received only Tk 20,000 in government assistance, with no further help. He has a wife and a six-year-old child. Now, his days pass only thinking about them.

Before leaving the shop, Antai called from behind. He asked a question, and turning back he said: he wants to ask the government, “How many more people need to become maimed before the mine explosions stop?”

About 1.5 kilometers from Antai’s house in Baishari, this correspondent meet auto-rickshaw driver Piara Tanchangya, who lost his left leg in September 2022 while working in the field. He has now transitioned from farmer to auto-rickshaw driver.

Piara says that after losing his leg, he was forced to drive rickshaws, though he cannot do it every day due to pain. After working hard, he has to spend several days resting. Piara Tanchangya’s wife, Laki Tanchangya, says, “With three children, we are living in great hardship, struggling to run the household.”

According to reports of daily newspapers, in the past five years, 27 people have become disabled due to mine explosions along the Myanmar border. These incidents occurred along 220 kilometers of border in Naikhongchhari, Ukhiya, and Teknaf, according to police sources.

Most incidents took place along the Naikhongchhari border. People lost their legs while working in the fields or sometimes while bringing cows and goats. Those unable to walk normally spend their days in financial hardship.

On Monday, fisherman Mohammad Hanif lost his left leg in a mine explosion at the Naf river border area in Lomba Bil, Teknaf’s Whykong Union.

He is now receiving treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital. Since Hanif’s incident, residents of the Myanmar–Bangladesh border areas in Naikhongchhari, Ukhiya, and Teknaf live in fear of mines.

Although Bangladesh has protested multiple times regarding mine explosions along the Myanmar border, the situation has not changed. Among countries worldwide with casualties from landmines, Myanmar ranks at the top.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) ‘Landmine Monitor 2024’ report published in November 2024 states that in 2023, 1,003 people were affected in Myanmar by landmines and explosive ordnance. During the same period, 933 were affected in Syria.

The UN Mine Ban Treaty was signed in 1997, prohibiting the production, use, and storage of landmines. Myanmar is among the countries that have not signed this treaty.

The ICBL report also highlights that Myanmar’s military and armed groups have increased landmine usage. Analysis of some images indicates possible landmine production in Myanmar, according to the report.

When asked, Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Abdul Mannan told Prothom Alo that discussions are ongoing at a high level between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop cross-border firing and mine explosions.

On 25 June 2024, 20-year-old Nabi Hossain went to the Myanmar border in Tumbru, Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, to bring a cow. Before even holding the rope, his right leg was blown off in a mine explosion. Treatment cost about Tk 200,000. Like many others, Nabi cannot walk normally, and therefore cannot work.

After two months in the hospital, Nabi Hossain recovered. An NGO recently fitted him with an artificial leg, but he still cannot carry heavy objects. Therefore, he cannot work. He wishes to run a small betel leaf shop.

Nabi Hossain’s elder brother, Delowar Hossain, told Prothom Alo, “My brother returned from the doorstep of death. His future life is uncertain. He cannot do anything.”

In April 2020, Abdul Malek lost his right leg in a mine explosion while working in the field in Ghummdhum, Naikhongchhari. After six months of treatment in the hospital, he returned home relying on crutches.

Visiting Malek’s home last Wednesday, his right leg had an iron brace. He told Prothom Alo that the bones in his right leg and foot were shattered in the explosion. Even after treatment, the bones have not fully fused, so the doctors left an iron brace on his leg. He cannot walk normally.

When asked how he manages his household, Abdul Malek said, “We manage with whatever help people give. I opened a tea shop, but I could not run it, I myself could give time to it.”

Abdul Malek’s wife, Arafa Begum, with two children, said they have been helpless for five years since the only earning member of the family cannot work. She does not know when her husband’s leg will fully recover.