PESHAWAR: “He has gone for search duty at a janaza (funeral),” says retired colonel Munawwar Shah while talking about Stellar, one of the bravest members of his K-9 Unit.

A four-year-old black Labrador, Stellar has saved hundreds of lives by timely detecting explosives at least on eight occasions. No one knows about this hero and no one has thanked them ever for saving the people’s lives.

Baron, another brave canine, was badly injured in a police encounter with criminals in Urmer area of Peshawar once.

He lost his handler in that incident. The handler’s family may have been solaced with the Shuhada Package and support from the police department but no one has even mentioned ever, not ever in media, about this injured dog of the police force.

Baron is still performing his duty in Hangu, unsung and unappreciated for his heroic deeds.

Without any official rank, appreciation or medal, the ‘working dogs’ of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have been performing duties on routes, at buildings, in processions and even in funerals when security is a huge concern.

These trained K-9 Unit members sniff and detect explosives and weapons to keep people out of harm’s way.

The director of the K-9 Unit, retired colonel Munawwar Shah said his canine unit consisting of golden, black and white Labradors and German Shepherds and their police constable handlers had a sense of pride that of a total of 60 recoveries of ammunition and explosives, Stellar made eight recoveries alone.

After hours of search, training, police’s ‘working dogs’ get just 700gm food each daily, share enclosures

In around 60 total recoveries since 2014, 3,406 ammunition and drugs have been recovered by the working dogs of the police, official said.

The K-9 Unit comprising sniffer dogs has been functional since 2009 with few trained dogs acquired from the Army Dog Centre, Rawalpindi. Fifty-one dogs were procured in 2014.

“Some of the dogs didn’t survive but we produced dogs through breeding here,” he said.

The K-9 Unit bred and produced 32 dogs. At the moment, 69 dogs are performing duties in 17 districts, including Peshawar, mostly sniffing ammunition and explosives to foil acts of terrorism.

“The Pakistan Army is also using these dogs for the explosives’ detection in dangerous places like North Waziristan but even the Army has not yet given any medal though it has proposed three names worthy of a medal for their service,” said retired colonel Munnawar Shah, who felt it was time that the services of sniffer dogs were recognised and appreciated.

There is no such practice in the police department to appreciate the services of such working dogs. All they get after a laborious day of search and training is 700gm of dog food once a day.

“We make sure they get the best quality of imported food but we don’t want to waste it.

The amount of food we give them keeps them fit and healthy,” said retired colonel Munawwar Shah.

Yet when they are locked up in one of the 10 enclosures of the K-9 Unit operating in a corner of the police lines, these dogs keep wagging their tail to express their eagerness to avail themselves of the opportunity to get out and run for duty.

Due to the shortage of space, three to four dogs share the enclosures, which make it hard for them to walk about or sleep and pee in some corner.

The working dogs of the police sometime lose their handlers in a police encounter or mishap but mostly they never make a strong bond for long since the handlers have worries of their own.

Although a service structure is proposed, the jobs of these dog handlers are still on contractual basis. For a total of 69 dogs, there are 56 handlers only.

Only five are working on permanent basis, while the rest are working in BPS-7 on contractual basis. The 4-6 months training goes waste when a handler is transferred.

“If we get more handlers and could train them, we will plan to train these dogs in the latest techniques to apprehend terrorists and controlling riots,” retired colonel Shah said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017