An increase in the number of staffers killed while defusing IEDs in Swat, Bannu and DI Khan in 2008 moved the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa authorities to upgrade the BDS to an independent Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU).
“There were deaths by booby traps which demoralised the BDS teams. There was no capacity building and facility for them,” said AIG Shafqat Malik, who joined the unit in 2009 to form a team that was capable of fighting insurgency.
He overhauled policy and restrained personnel from defusing explosives without written orders. They next step was to enhance their knowledge.
“In the first phase, 25 BDU personnel were sent to the US for training. After training, I let them dismantle devices but still restrain them from defusing them,” he said.
Today they have five robots and 13 explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) vehicles. A K-9 unit with four dogs was also set up in Peshawar in 2009, and has since been extended to seven division in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2014.
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