KARACHI, June 14: The bomb disposal squad of the police special branch for security is neither adequately equipped, nor properly trained to perform the task assigned to it, cross-examination of its sub-inspector before the tribunal probing the Nishtar Park blast revealed on Wednesday.
SI Musaab Husain, in charge of the shift that combed the main procession route and the stage used for the public meeting on April 11, will continue his testimony on Thursday when he will be further cross-examined by the counsel for the Pakistan Sunni Movement, Advocate Javed Ahmed Chhatari. On the conclusion of proceedings on Wednesday, he was allowed to correct his statement that the mine detector available with the bomb disposal squad could only detect metal and not explosives. It could detect both metal and explosives, he said.
The tribunal, which consists of Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court, also allowed a request made by DIG Manzoor A. Mughal that a copy of the movie furnished by the Jamshed Town police officer should be made available to the police for investigation. According to him, the stool in front of the stage as shown in the film remained intact after the blast. The movie was not available to investigators, he said. The tribunal said a police officer could bring the necessary equipment and obtain a copy in the presence of its registrar, civil judge Mohammad Sohail.
Recording his evidence, SI Musaab Husain said he was an armament fitter in the Pakistan Air Force before joining the police in 1998. He attended training courses for handling cluster bombs and Eurandal or penetration bombs. He also attended a short course conducted by US personnel at the National Police Academy, Sihala. He produced the relevant certificates.
The SI said he was given charge of the morning shift from 8 am to 3 pm on April 11 by bomb disposal unit inspector Mohammad Iqbal. He first went to the Numaish Chowrangi in a van carrying mine metal detector, bomb blanket and ordnance suit. He could not check stalls set up there as they were occupied. He reached Nishtar Park about 11-25 am and informed his unit of his arrival. Five or six police officials were present there. The unit first carried out ‘sweeping’ or combing of the ground by mine metal detector.
Some volunteers of the organizers were present on the stage and he asked them to stand aside for checking. He inspected the stage visually and then combed it with an explosives finder. SSP Security Dr Zain Shaikh arrived at 11-45 pm. After having completed the checking, he issued a clearance certificate to ASI Niaz Hussain of the Soldier Bazaar police station. He proceeded to Kharadar for checking the procession route.
Replying to questions by Advocate Chhatari, he said he knew there was a bomb called napalm bomb but never saw its use during his service, which included a stint in (former) East Pakistan in 1971. He agreed that penetration bomb was used to destroy runways and had nothing to do with bomb disposal as such. There was no civilian use of cluster bomb either. The counsel contended that the SI at best had theoretical knowledge and had no practical experience of bomb disposal.
The witness said there the police had no bomb disposal training institution and short courses were offered in Lahore and Karachi by the civil defence organization. The bomb disposal unit in Karachi has five mobile vans, three of which had the necessary accoutrements. The explosives ordnance dress or suit is seldom used by the unit because it hampers movement. Two persons are required to put it on. The counsel said the dress was meant to save precious lives during bomb disposal.
The SI did not agree that the mine detector used by him was only a metal detector but said it detected ‘mines made of metal’. “Yes, it detects only metal and not explosives”, he said in reply to question, which he later corrected. “We have explosives finder”, he said when asked whether the unit was equipped with a ‘gravity vapour detector’. He did not know how old it was and when it was purchased. When the counsel suggested that what unit possessed was only ‘an explosives sneezer’ and not a detector, the SI said the lawyer was indulging in technicalities and there was no difference between the two.
The SI, however, agreed that the detector he swept the stage with could not detect ‘packed’ explosives. The explosives must ooze out or emit ‘vapours’ in order to be detected by the device used by the disposal unit. If no vapours were coming out, the detector was of no use. The cross-examination would continue on Thursday, when unit inspector Mohammad Iqbal would also record his evidence.