TALEQAN (SW): Though the incident of face to face fighting with the militants have relatively declined but still a number of citizens fall prey to landmines across the country.
There are however, a number of men and women who have endangered their lives to diffuse or neutralize unexploded ordnance and mines in Afghanistan.
Akhtar Mohammad has been working as a deminer for six years now. He has diffused up to 4767 mines during his time as a de-miner. As he narrates, once he recounted an incident when NATO forces failed to diffuse a landmine but he stepped in and diffused it.
Dedicated to his work, he has become very popular among the citizens in Takhar province who have dubbed him as a hero.
He currently works in the Demining Department at the Takhar Police Chief Headquarters.
In an interview with Salam Watandar, he said that he has been working as a de-miner for years in the capital city of Takhar and other districts in the province.
When on mission, he puts on a chunky uniform, which weighs 86 kg and is designed to protect him against any possible danger. Despite this, he has picked-up many injuries on his body and part of his upper lip is missing.
He said that he is in love with his job and enormously enjoys doing it. He added that he has chosen the job by his own will so that he could play a role in saving people’s lives.
He recalled an incident when foreign troops discovered a mine placed in a computer at the provincial council building but failed to diffuse it, again it was him stepping in and neutralized it.
He astonished foreign troops as they couldn’t believe that an Afghan was capable of diffusing such a tricky mine placed in a computer. He said that he was awarded and encouraged by national security and provincial council department in the province.
Agha Daud, Security Chife at Police Headquarters in Takhar, said that Akhtar Mohammad has so far saved hundreds lives.
He added that all major success achieved by demining department in Takhar is only down to one man, Akhtar Mohammad. They lamented that each month, tens of deminers either get killed or injured across the country but their dedications and sacrifice are soon forgotten.
ENDS
