Playing with fire: School for handling explosives inaugurated

First-of-its-kind institute to train BDU officials and regular policemen .

NOWSHERA/ PESHAWAR:

Handling explosives is tricky business, but law enforcement officials in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will now be better equipped to combat such circumstances as a school specifically designed for the purpose has been inaugurated in Nowshera.

Established at the Police Lines in Nowshera, the first-of-its-kind institute was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday.

IGP Nasir Durrani was also present along with Nowshera DC Zakaullah Khattak, DPO Rab Nawaz Khan, Mardan region DIG Saeed Wazir and other government officials.



Those attending the ceremony included K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Excise and Taxation Minister Jamsheduddin Khan and other PTI parliamentarians.

CM Khattak visited various departments of the institute and got a chance to look at the explosive-defusing equipment at the disposal of officials.

Khattak was told four courses of international level would be taught at the school. These include bomb disposal unit training, blast investigation, officer training and an intelligence explosive course.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said K-P police has rendered innumerable sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. He added it would now become a better-equipped force thanks to such training.

Khattak said the PTI-led government has ended political influence in policing, apart from providing the force with sophisticated weapons and other facilities to tackle terrorism and crime. He termed the establishment of such training schools was the need of the hour.

IGP Nasir Khan Durrani said the bomb disposal unit (BDU) comprised 500 men armed with state-of-the-art devices to deal with any situation.

He said proper training was necessary and that was the main reason the K-P police decided to establish their own school to offer courses not only to the BDU, but also other policemen. He boasted this was another ‘first’ by the provincial police.

The IGP revealed AIG Shafqat Malik would act as the director of the school. Both CM Khattak and IGP Durrani inaugurated the Yadgar-e-Shuhada made in memory of martyred BDU officials at the newly-established school.

BDU personnel later gave a demonstration on defusing bombs. Sniffer dogs and robots were used in the exercise.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2015.