Afghan boy dances away the horror of landmines

He lost his leg to an explosive landmine

The video of a boy with an artificial limb dancing his heart out has taken the Internet by storm.

The boy is Ahmed from Afghanistan. A landmine took his leg.

He received an artificial limb at the ICRC Afghanistan orthopedic centre.

The heartening video shows Ahmed back on his feet doing a jiggle out of happiness after getting his limbs back.

He comes from Logar and lost his leg in a landmine.

Explosive landmines were first used in World War I. Hundreds of years have passed, but the technique is still being used. In 1979, the United Nations took steps to ban them, but it was unsuccessful.

Following that, in 1997, Princess Diana had joined a campaign against landmines. She also took a trip to Angola, which was one of the most heavily mine-contaminated countries in the world. Princess Diana’s call for the ban made the UN initiate talks on it.

In the same year, the UN’s Convention On The Prohibition Of The Use, Stockpiling, Production And Transfer Of Anti-Personnel Mines And On Their Destruction, known as the Ottawa Treaty, was signed by 164 countries.

However, Pakistan, India, America, China and Russia did not sign it.

A report from 2018 revealed that there were more than 500 million landmines in 58 countries of the world, including Pakistan, because of which over 7,000 people were affected. Of these people, 2,793 lost their lives and 4,331 were injured.

Currently, Russia has the most landmines at 20 million followed by Pakistan with six million. In Pakistan, the landmines are present in the district areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Hundreds of people have lost their lives and got injured because of them. Many children, women, old people and youngsters have lost their body parts, such as arms or legs.

People in Afghanistan too continue to fall victim to this problem on a daily basis. International Committee of the Red Cross, over 4,000 civilians were killed or injured by explosives in Afghanistan last year. “That’s over a third more than in 2017 and the most since 2010,” ICRC tweeted.

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Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2019/05/afghan-boy-dances-away-the-horror-of-landmines/