The more prepared we are to take mitigating action in the event of an attack the more secure we will be as a country.
KARACHI: Sadly, suicide bombings have become quite common in our country. By educating ourselves, we can minimise the number of injuries in the event of an attack, thereby defeating the terrorists’ goal. The more prepared we are, individually and as a country, to take immediate mitigating action in the event of an attack, the more secure we will be as a country.
In Pakistan, police, law-enforcement agencies and private security personnel use electronic metal detectors and walk-through gates at the entrances of public places, including shrines and mosques, to detect hidden explosives and bombs. This means that while hand guns and knives can be detected, guns and ammunition sealed in plastic capsules or made of fabricated material cannot. Explosives of any kind or bombs concealed in any way can be easily detected by using high quality explosive detectors, as they can detect explosives as well as narcotics from a distance of 20 to 30 feet. They are easily available and though costly, have proved very effective.
Other than that, cameras can be used which show explosives hidden under clothes from a distance of about 40 feet. Had such explosive detection devices been used at the Data Darbar in Lahore and the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi at Karachi, hundreds of lives could have been saved.
Sqn Ldr S. Ausaf Husain (Retd)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2010.
