Disarming the threat

Published October 4, 2013
Members of a police bomb squad patrol with their sniffer dog during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
Members of a police bomb squad patrol with their sniffer dog during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
Shafqat Malik (Centre), head of a police bomb disposal unit, watches his team display their equipment during a demonstration at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
Shafqat Malik (Centre), head of a police bomb disposal unit, watches his team display their equipment during a demonstration at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit uses plastic bags as gloves during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit uses plastic bags as gloves during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit walks after a demonstration at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit walks after a demonstration at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
Technicians from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit prepare an improvised detonator, by fixing a cord into a plastic water bottle, to demonstrate how to destroy militant bombs at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
Technicians from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit prepare an improvised detonator, by fixing a cord into a plastic water bottle, to demonstrate how to destroy militant bombs at the unit's headquarters in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit holds an explosives detonator during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit holds an explosives detonator during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit is helped into his protective suit during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters
A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit is helped into his protective suit during a bomb search operation in Peshawar. – Photo by Reuters

Twelve years into the war on militancy, Pakistan's police are still chronically under-funded. This year's federal budget allocated and estimated $6 billion to the military and an estimated $686 million to the police. This lopsided allocation is mirrored in the disbursement of foreign aid within the country. While the United States has given Pakistan roughly $30 billion since 2001, the police have received a tiny fraction of the amount as compared to the military. A little of that reached the country's top police bomb disposal unit in the city of Peshawar.

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