Under US pressure, Pakistan prepares plan to counter IEDs
Draft of legal framework to be tabled before Parliament.
ISLAMABAD:
Under constant pressure from the US over the increasing use of Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) by militants on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border, Pakistani authorities have worked out a strategy to counter the threat.
Draft legislation for the National Strategy to Counter-IED will be soon tabled in parliament for approval, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The proposed C-IED Act 2012 will provide a legal framework for the strategy and deal with issues like monitoring and controlling ingredients used in IED-making and prosecution of criminals by introducing new amendments to existing laws.
The national strategy, soon to be made public, has been prepared by the National Counter-IED Forum. It is headed by the interior secretary and includes chief secretaries of all provinces, the National Counter Terrorism Authority director-general, DG Engineers Pak Army, DGs/ IGs of all Civil Armed Forces, IG police of all provinces and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Inter-Services Intelligence.
One of the most fatal tactical weapons used by militants, IEDs have caused 13,918 casualties – 47% of the total casualties suffered during the past four years on Pakistan’s side of the border.
According to a policy paper available with The Express Tribune, out of these causalities, Pakistan Army and law-enforcement agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have suffered 1,244 casualties with 221 people killed and 1,023 injured, most of them critically.
Based on the overall strategy, the National C-IED Implementation plan gives out tiers of national C-IED efforts and delineates responsibilities and functions of each tier; which, essentially, includes making an implementation plan for that tier, monitor/control over IED materials, prevention, detection, fighting IEDs, analysis and dissemination of required information and training/equipping for effective C-IED, the policy paper said.
The US has been consistently pressing Pakistan to take stringent measures against the preparation of IEDs on its side of the border and has urged it to colour and tag Amonium Nitrate (AN)-based fertilisers.
Pakistani authorities, however, have declined to do so saying the approach is unlikely to achieve the desired results unless a consensus-based regional approach is adopted, as it does in several countries that are producing and using Calcium Amonium Nitrate (CAN).
Authorities in Pakistan believe that colouring, to establish the origin of CAN, will not work as it can be easily manipulated by hostile elements to mislead exploitation efforts.
An official privy to the matter said that under directives of the government, the ministry of industries has tightened the implementation of control over explosives and related materials and has banned the export of CAN. The K-P government, meanwhile, has disallowed the use of CAN as fertiliser in Fata and parts of K-P.
Afghanistan has imposed a ban on the import of AN/CAN-based fertilisers. According to an official document based on a report of the International Fertiliser Industry Association, among Afghanistan’s neighbours, Turkmenistan produces 1,900 metric tons of AN fertiliser, while Pakistan produces 1384 metric tons of CAN.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.
Under constant pressure from the US over the increasing use of Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs) by militants on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border, Pakistani authorities have worked out a strategy to counter the threat.
Draft legislation for the National Strategy to Counter-IED will be soon tabled in parliament for approval, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The proposed C-IED Act 2012 will provide a legal framework for the strategy and deal with issues like monitoring and controlling ingredients used in IED-making and prosecution of criminals by introducing new amendments to existing laws.
The national strategy, soon to be made public, has been prepared by the National Counter-IED Forum. It is headed by the interior secretary and includes chief secretaries of all provinces, the National Counter Terrorism Authority director-general, DG Engineers Pak Army, DGs/ IGs of all Civil Armed Forces, IG police of all provinces and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Inter-Services Intelligence.
One of the most fatal tactical weapons used by militants, IEDs have caused 13,918 casualties – 47% of the total casualties suffered during the past four years on Pakistan’s side of the border.
According to a policy paper available with The Express Tribune, out of these causalities, Pakistan Army and law-enforcement agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have suffered 1,244 casualties with 221 people killed and 1,023 injured, most of them critically.
Based on the overall strategy, the National C-IED Implementation plan gives out tiers of national C-IED efforts and delineates responsibilities and functions of each tier; which, essentially, includes making an implementation plan for that tier, monitor/control over IED materials, prevention, detection, fighting IEDs, analysis and dissemination of required information and training/equipping for effective C-IED, the policy paper said.
The US has been consistently pressing Pakistan to take stringent measures against the preparation of IEDs on its side of the border and has urged it to colour and tag Amonium Nitrate (AN)-based fertilisers.
Pakistani authorities, however, have declined to do so saying the approach is unlikely to achieve the desired results unless a consensus-based regional approach is adopted, as it does in several countries that are producing and using Calcium Amonium Nitrate (CAN).
Authorities in Pakistan believe that colouring, to establish the origin of CAN, will not work as it can be easily manipulated by hostile elements to mislead exploitation efforts.
An official privy to the matter said that under directives of the government, the ministry of industries has tightened the implementation of control over explosives and related materials and has banned the export of CAN. The K-P government, meanwhile, has disallowed the use of CAN as fertiliser in Fata and parts of K-P.
Afghanistan has imposed a ban on the import of AN/CAN-based fertilisers. According to an official document based on a report of the International Fertiliser Industry Association, among Afghanistan’s neighbours, Turkmenistan produces 1,900 metric tons of AN fertiliser, while Pakistan produces 1384 metric tons of CAN.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.