Punjab Bomb Disposal Squad: Understaffed and ill-equipped

With severe lack of experts and machinery, state of Punjab’s BDU poses a grave risk to 100 million of its population

LAHORE: Despite being one of the most important units of the police force, Punjab’s bomb disposal squad is undergoing severe shortage of manpower and resources. As a result, the squad is facing difficulties in defusing suicide vests, bombs and explosives which is a necessary part of Pakistan’s ongoing war against terrorism.

Per sources, 16 districts of the province do not have bomb disposal vehicles. Out of the 14 available vehicles – eleven of which were donated to Pakistan by the United States, Great Britain and Europe – two have been non-operational for a long time. Furthermore, out of the 37 approved vacancies for squad commanders, 15 are still vacant. Whereas, out of the 64 approved vacancies for bomb technicians, 35 have remained vacant for a considerable time, leaving the department severely understaffed.

Although the Punjab Civil Defense has requested the federal government in writing to provide 16 vehicles and special equipment from foreign funds received for counter terrorism, the department itself has also been unable to keep up with modern bomb disposing techniques and practices.

With a bulging population of more than 100 million, Punjab has been the target of some of the most severe terrorist attacks in the past few years; including the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. However, with little resources and plenty on stake, the Punjab bomb disposal squad has been under immense pressure to keep province safe.

During the last five years, the Punjab Bomb Disposal Squad has searched over 400,000 locations on possible terrorist information and disarmed over 3,610 IDs of explosives and 49 suicide-vests in the province. However, despite the looming threat of terrorism, the federal and provincial governments have yet not initiated any significant plan of action for the reorganization and restocking of the unit. So far, only 14 out of the 36 districts have access to bomb disposal vehicles, out of which two have long remained non-functional. Out of the 14 vehicles present, only three have been purchased by the Punjab government, whereas the remaining 11 were donated by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to Punjab Civil Defence Director Altaf Baloch, the Punjab government has recently purchased eight more vehicles to be added to the Province’s bomb disposal squad and their servicing and modification is underway in Peshawar. Upon completion of servicing and modification, one of these vehicles will be allocated to Lahore whereas the rest will other districts. “But even with the addition of the new machines, some 16 districts will still remain deprived of proper bomb disposal vehicles and the Punjab Civil Defense has requested the federal government to fill the gap using foreign funds received for counter terrorism in Pakistan,” he added.

At present, there are bomb disposal vehicles in Lahore, Multan, DG Khan, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Chakwal, Bahawalpur, Qasur, Lodhran, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi and Muzaffargarh.  Whereas, the unit has access to only two jacket-defusing robots–one in Lahore and the other in Rawalpindi¬– on top of which, department is also faced with a grave shortage of bomb disposal experts. “We have requested the federal government to recruit vacant posts and address the shortage of trained specialists while a summary has also been forwarded to the government to create new posts,” Baloch told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2020.