KARACHI, Jan 12 Police authorities have issued show-cause notices to officials of the bomb disposal unit after receiving a report from an explosives expert which established that a planted improvised explosive device was used in the Ashura procession on Dec 28 last year.

Forty-five people were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the blast that ripped through the front portion of the main Ashura procession on M.A. Jinnah Road.

The BDU officials who were supposed to sweep the route of the procession for bombs and explosives have been asked to explain their performance on that day.

A senior police officer requesting anonymity told Dawn that it was not the lack of equipment or faulty gadgetry but poor training and lackadaisical approach of the human resource that contributed to the serious security lapse.

“Seeing the box locked from outside and considering that it is meant for keeping sacred papers, they [bomb disposal officials] might have ignored it,” the officer observed.

He, however, added that final conclusions could be drawn after receiving the response of bomb disposal officials.

Though the Pakistan Rangers through sniffer dogs also look for bombs and explosives ahead of the procession as it advances, it is not known if such an inquiry has been initiated against the officials of the paramilitary force who were on duty that day.

A spokesman for the Rangers told Dawn that he was not aware if any such in-house inquiry to ascertain the role of the Rangers advance unit was taking place or not.

According to the explosives expert's report, the bomb was planted in a metal box meant for keeping the sacred papers.

Initially, the police were quick to declare the explosion a suicide blast apparently to ward off its share of responsibility in the serious security lapse.

However, services of the explosive expert from Peshawar were sought later by the Karachi police when the remains of the suspected suicide bomber were identified as those of a scout participating in the procession along with his father and cousins.

AIG Shafqat Malik of the BDU filed his report on Jan 5, declaring that the explosion was caused by a planted bomb and ruling out the possibility of a suicide attack. The report stated that the explosives weighing between 12 and 16 kilos were planted in the green box, which was meant for keeping sacred papers, fixed on a roadside pavement.

The special investigation group (SIG) — the counter-terrorism unit of the Federal Investigation Agency — has already submitted its findings to the federal government stating the same facts.

In fact the SIG officials had submitted their initial report on the very next day of the explosion. They had stated that the blast was a result of planted explosives, ruling out the possibility of a suicide attack.

However, inviting an expert from Peshawar raised questions over the proficiency of the bomb disposal unit present in Karachi. Though the bomb disposal unit of the Karachi police, lacking proper equipment and manpower, was never an exemplary team of the police, the issue of gadgetry has been addressed by acquiring new equipment during recent years.

Interestingly, the office of the SSP Security Special Branch through an advertisement on Jan 9, 2010, — days after the Dec 28, 2009 blast — invited tenders for repairing of BDU security equipment. The equipment which needs repairs was listed as letter bomb detector at CM's House, E-3500 sensor, portable explosive detectors, portable jammers, walkthrough gates, battery explosive detectors and baggage scanning machines.

Sources said that at least half of the newly acquired gadgetry essential for the detection of bombs was sent to the Bilawal House and the Zardari House in Benazirabad during the later half of 2008. They said the equipment included bomb locators, mine detectors, bomb disposal suits and similar items.

The sources added that one team of the bomb disposal unit had also been dedicated to the Bilawal House on a permanent basis.