LAHORE, April 13: Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) of Civil Defence is for the first time launching a country-wide two-week training course for members of public during the month to enable them to identify the would-be suicide bombers and explosive material and adopt preventive measures.

"The Directorate General, Civil Defence, Islamabad, has finally approved the free-of-cost course for the general public and the BD Unit Pakistan headquarters Lahore will hold it between April 28 and May 10," said Agha Asghar Ali, Unit Commander BDS Lahore.

He told Dawn that keeping in view the rising incidence of suicide bombing, blasts and frequent hoaxes, the BDS unit was starting the course 'Searching and operational equipment training' which would create awareness among the people on handling terrorism threat technically.

"The BDS experts will train the people about the identification of real/fake explosives lying in abandoned bags/places and (would-be) suicide bombers carrying suicide jackets," he said.

He claimed the training would help citizens identify a would-be suicide bomber and physically handle him or her before blowing up.

Elaborating, he said if a person identified a would-be suicide bomber, first he could seize the bomber's both hands and arms rendering him or her unable to trigger blast and then take him out of the range of any possible remote device controlled by another terrorist as an alternative way to blow up the explosive jacket.

"In my opinion, a suicide bomber is also linked with another person, who has the remote-control, and if the bomber is taken away 100 feet away from the device with his both hands captured, he could not be blown up," Mr Agha said.

He said a trained person would be able to differentiate between real and fake explosive devices without the help of technical experts.

"This would also help public avoid the panic caused by frequent bomb hoaxes, which have become almost a routine, especially in Lahore," he added.

The unit commander said the BDU officials and police received dozens of calls every day, most of them bogus. He said the unit took action only on those calls which inform of any threat to `sensitive’ places, especially educational institutes, government buildings, commercial/banking offices and multinational setups.

Mr Asghar said two courses for security supervisors and guards would also be held free of cost from July 7 to Aug 2 and from Sept 1 to Sept 27, respectively, with the same objective.

He said three courses -- Bomb reconnaissance, Searching and operational equipment training and General protection against explosive devices -- were already in progress to train female government employees from Rangers, police and other departments.

He said a maximum number of people from all walks of life should participate in the courses and learn how to save themselves and others from terrorism threat.

He said the citizens could apply for participation in a course before a week of its commencement and officials could be contacted for further information on phone number 042-9262127.