An Appeal to Help Eliminate Landmines

An Appeal to Help Eliminate Landmines

By

Sri Swami Chidananda

There is a horrifying havoc and terrible destruction of life and limb that is taking place each and every day in many parts of the world by exploding landmines that have been planted in their millions in the third world countries by the super powers of our so-called civilized world. We are civilized in our own egoistic estimation of ourselves. But we are savages in the all-seeing eyes of God by the way in which we deal with our own fellow human beings as well as the other dumb species of living beings created by Him.

At the moment of my writing this and your reading this, some concealed landmine is exploding somewhere, either bringing about sudden death (mercifully) or, worse still, maiming and crippling lifelong some promising young life. It is not only debasing but it is even dehumanising our human nature. How can we claim to be human beings when we engage in such inhuman actions in a deliberate and carefree planned manner on purpose and with intent to harm and even to destroy ? This is unworthy of beings who are said to have been made “in the image” of the Creator who is Divine.

We must wake up. We must remain awake and not lapse back into slumber of indifference. We must awake, arise and forthwith engage in the needful right action impelled by sympathy, compassion and the LOVING KINDNESS taught by the compassionate Buddha, the Prince of Peace.

At this moment of my writing Daniel Gomez-Ibanez is earnestly engaged in an all-out international campaign to ban the manufacturing of landmines and to commence a world-wide project for excavating and defusing this concealed death under the feet of innocent men, women and children going about their humble tasks in their daily life. I call upon and urge each and every one of you who are reading this lines to rally around Daniel Gomez, to join and actively participate in this international campaign, to induce your relatives, friends and co-workers to do likewise and to do everything possible that you can to assist and help Daniel Gomez and his colleagues to achieve their objective in this campaign of compassion. I am giving herein the contact information where you can immediately contact Daniel Gomez-Ibanez to state your solid support to and ask what you can do in this vitally important campaign:

Mr. Daniel Gomez-Ibanez,
W9643 Rucks Road,
Cambridge, Wisconsin 53523,
USA.
Tel: 1-(608) 423 4066
Fax: 1-(608) 423 4966
E-mail: dgi@igc.apc.org

Daniel is a peace activist who is tirelessly striving with a passionate zeal and dedication for implementing and realizing in the highest interest of peace, abandonment of war, the renouncing of armed solutions to problems between nations and groups of human being, for the protection of the planet from the threat to its fast depleting resources, its delicate ecological balance and the purity of its environment.

Let me conclude by quoting revered and beloved Holy Master Swami Sivanandaji to express his views about War in the following words:

ABOLISH WAR

By

H.H. SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA

War is the highest Barbarism.
It is the most horrible Crime.
It is monstrous and horrible Villainy.
It is man’s crowning stupidity.
It leads to disaster and destruction.
O Scientist! Abandon Bomb manufacturing.
Try sincerely to make Peace among nations.
O Dictators! O Presidents!
Attempt to effect World Peace.
You will not gain anything through wars.
You have rejected the Sermon on the Mount.
You preach against religion and God.
This indeed is a grave, great blunder.
Establish Peace, Brotherhood & Unity centres everywhere.
Invite men of goodness, holiness and love from everywhere.
And they will guide you and show you the way to world welfare and happiness.
O ye all men, you are my brothers in the Spirit.
O ye my global brothers Abolish war. Stop wars. Put an end to all wars.
Peace, peace, peace be unto all, everywhere.

Beloved friends! May we all work together to make this planet Earth of ours an abode of Peace. Proclaim Peace! Pray for Peace. Work for Peace. Live for your life to bring about an era of Peace. May God’s Peace fill your heart, now and always.

Om. May there be peace in heaven. May there be peace in the sky. May there be peace on earth. May there be peace in the water. May there be peace in the plants. May there be peace in the trees. May there be peace in the Gods. May there be peace in Brahman (God). May there be peace in all. May that peace, real peace, be mine.

HIDDEN KILLERS — LANDMINE FACTS

  • Landmines kill or wound over 26,000 people a year, mainly civilians.
  • Landmines are weapons of war, but most are left behind after the soldiers have gone: over 100 million hidden, indiscriminate killers in more than 60 countries, turning fields, woods, paths, and villages into deathtraps.
  • Tens of millions of people live with the constant horror of suddenly losing a leg, a life, or a child’s life. Every 20 minutes a landmine explodes somewhere.
  • Landmines cost very little to produce – as little as $3 to $30 each -but it costs from $300 to $1000 to remove one.
  • Every year about 5,000,000 landmines are made and 2,500,000 are deployed, but only about 100,000 are removed.
  • The countries most severely afflicted by landmines are Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kuwait, Mozambique, Somalia, and Sudan.
  • In Cambodia, for example, there are more than 35,000 amputees: one out of every 200 Cambodians has lost one or more limbs to a landmine explosion.
  • The only solution is a total ban on the production, use, trade, and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines, and an international commitment to clear existing minefields.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

  • Support national policies to ban the production, use, stockpiling, and export of landmines.
  • Urge your government to push for an international treaty outlawing landmines as inhumane, indiscriminate weapons.
  • Tell others; and help any of the hundreds of organizations around the world that are working to ban and to remove landmines, and to heal victims.
  • Join us in prayer.
  • Please tell us that you are praying with us. Send a Fax to the Geneva office of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (Fax +41-22-788-7035)or to the USA office of the International Committee for the Peace Council (Fax +1 608 423-4966) or send e-mail to dgi@igc.apc.org. People of all faiths are praying for an end to the horror and suffering inflicted by landmines.
  • Voice Your Concern
  • Sign this Virtual Petition

More information about the International Campaign to Ban Landmines can be found at:

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