With Humvees, police plan a terrorist rout out

Sindh police preparing proposal to import American- and Russian-made armoured personnel carriers.

KARACHI:

If targeted killings and bomb blasts weren’t enough, random attacks on law enforcers have put everyone on edge. The security situation in Karachi is worsening and the most upset are the police themselves. But now they have a plan.

By the end of this year, the police department will add considerable muscle and firepower to its ranks in the form of new armoured personnel carriers (APCs). But these won’t be like the ordinary armoured vehicles currently patrolling the streets of Karachi. Soon there will be Humvees in Karachi.

The High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), commonly known only as Humvee, is a four-wheel drive military automobile produced by Indiana-based, heavy vehicle manufacturer AM General - best known for its civilian Hummer.

Primarily used by the US military, the HMMWVs are built to purpose for conflict-hit zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the decision to buy the American-made APCs is still in the pipeline, it is most likely that some Humvees will make it to Karachi in the current year.

“This is a lengthy as well as a very expensive process,” assistant inspector general of police, Qamar Raza Jiskani, who works at the Sindh motor department, told The Express Tribune. “Apart from the government NOC, we will have to involve the interior ministry and the customs department also.”

American- and Russian-made APCs that are used by Nato forces will likely be purchased as these are suitable for Karachi’s situation, Jiskani added without exactly identifying the vehicles.

Two versions of the APCs are under consideration. One is a 4x4 military vehicle costing Rs50 million and the other is an 8x8 armoured carrier with a staggering cost of Rs130million.

APCs play a major role to protect the lives of policemen during operations against criminals and gangsters, Crime Investigation Department’s SSP Fayyaz Khan said while talking to The Express Tribune. “Inside these vehicles, police can crackdown against terrorists without any fear,” he said. “But if these armoured carriers can’t guarantee security, the situation can turn against us in a matter of seconds.”

A complete failure of Karachi police was witnessed during last year’s Lyari operation when an officer died and dozens more were injured - reportedly inside their APCs - as criminals attacked the law enforcers with rocket-propelled grenades and even anti-aircraft guns.

The Sindh police have around 90 such APCs manufactured by the Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), with 17 of them of the tracked (chained) “Talha” model. The wheeled variety of locally manufactured APCs (B-6) costs about Rs17.5 million each while a B-7, an upgraded version, costs about Rs54 million.

During the eight-day crackdown in Lyari, at least 19 armoured carriers were damaged. The Karachi police use about 30 such vehicles. Eight of them - four tracked and four wheeled APCs - were sent to the manufacturer for upgrade but all were returned after repairs. None of the vehicle was upgraded from the B-6 level to B-7.

But Jiskani offers an explanation: “There was no fault with the B-6 level APCs.”

“After the Lyari operation, we sent the B-6 to the HIT for upgrading them to the B-7 level,” he said. “[But] the modification of the vehicles on the same chassis increased their weight considerably. The vehicles could not move smoothly and it affected their performance. So we decided to get them back only after repairs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2013.