The provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed its first blast of 2019 today in Kala Bari market located in Saddar area of Peshawar. According to the media reports, six people were injured in the blast and they were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital. The wounded are in a stable condition according to the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO). An IED (improvised explosive device) containing eight to ten kilograms of explosives and the material was planted in a vehicle. The CCTV footage of the blast showed a man wrapped up in a shawl who parked the car in that vicinity where the explosion took place.
According to a study conducted by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, 40 attacks were recorded in KP in which 72 people were killed and 174 injured. Since the Launch of Operation Zarb-i-Azab in June 2014, the violent attacks in KP reduced significantly. But yet the security situation is not completely under control and the danger of militants striking back looms all over the country. In KPK province IED is the most preferred choice for militants to carry out attacks. Around 70 percent of terrorist attacks in the province have involved the use of IEDs.
IEDs are a convenient choice for militants as they are easy to use and require little time to make. IEDs require a cellphone, electrical wire, fuse batteries, electrical tape and a solid-state semiconductor device. There are no satisfactory measures adopted by the KP Government to tackle with this issue.
KP Government passed the Explosives Act in September 2013 after the passage of 18th Amendment to regulate explosives and their misuse. Government directed the Department of Home and Tribal Affairs to create an inspectorate to monitor the use of commercial explosives at district and tehsil levels.
However, according to the Additional Secretary Home and Tribal Affair Department says that the setting up of an inspectorate requires federal approval for hiring staff and it would take further time for implementation. *
Published in Daily Times, January 6th 2019