World News | Sri Lanka Approves Law Implementing Anti-land Mine Treaty

Colombo, Feb 10 (AP) Sri Lanka's Parliament on Thursday approved a law prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel land mines to implement an international treaty the nation acceded to five years ago.

The law was passed without a vote after being introduced by Justice Minister Ali Sabry on Wednesday.

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Both government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were accused of widely using anti-personnel and anti-tank mines during Sri Lanka's quarter-century civil war, which ended in 2009.

The rebels were able to produce their own mines before their defeat.

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In 2017, Sri Lanka became a party to the Ottawa Convention of 1997, which bans anti-personnel mines.

The new law outlaws the production, use or transfer of land mines, except for training military and police personnel in mine detection, clearance, deactivation and destruction.

Violations can be penalized by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of approximately USD 2,500.

According to initial UN estimates, some 100, 000 people were killed in the civil war.

The government said in 2016 that 22,100 people were killed or injured by land mines or explosive remnants of the war. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)