RAWALPINDI: Despite being one of the sensitive airports, the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) does not have bomb detection and bomb disposal squads.

According to sources, intelligence brought the issue into the notice of Regional Police Officer Sohail Habib Tajik last month.

The intelligence intimated that since the IIAP is a sensitive airport covered by greenwoods and located at a quite long distance from Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Attock, it should have rescue teams available 24 hours.

It said: “Due to the long distance from the three cities, it will not be easy for the rescue teams and bomb disposal squads to reach the airport on time in case of an emergency situation.”

“Besides, the airport should also have detection dogs,” the report said and added: “In case of an emergency, the bomb disposal team needed more than one hour to reach there from Rawalpindi.”

The intelligence also suggested to the Rawalpindi RPO to ensure the presence of bomb disposal and detection squad’s presence at the airport round the clock so that they could promptly move and could avoid any untoward incident.

Following the intelligence, Mr Tajik directed the Rawalpindi City Police Officer and Attock District Police Officer to submit a report in this regard.

When Attock DPO Syed Khalid Hamdani was contacted, he said the police security for the IIA has been put in place according to the International standard with the co-ordination of Rawalpindi and Islamabad police as the airport is located in the jurisdiction of three districts.

When asked about the presence of bomb disposal and detection experts’ deployment at the airport, he said: “Definitely their presence should be there.” However, the Rawalpindi police have yet to respond to the RPO’s letter.

When a senior security official was contacted, he said according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), whenever any suspicious bag or anything abandoned is found from the airport premises, the security officials put a blanket on it and then shift it to a ‘bomb ditch’, which he said is quite a dangerous exercise.

He said he had written several times to the authorities concerned regarding deployment of bomb disposal and detection squads at the airport, but his efforts gave no result.

Rawalpindi police have a specialised bomb disposal squad, trained by US experts during a three-month training programme in Sihala Police College in 2009. The police squad was trained in using sophisticated bomb disposal suit and other modern gadgets that provide complete protection against bomb explosions and anti-personnel mines.

The bomb disposal suit (EOD Suit) consists of ballistic helmet with visor, X-Ray machine, disruptor gun, jenson tool kit, fiberscope that helps the bomb disposal expert to see the explosive material inside a device in the dark, armor plates and a stethoscope.

It also protects the wearer from penetrating injuries from exploding devices. It deflects pellets that come from exploded devices and protects the individual defusing the explosive device.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020