ISLAMABAD, May 20: A senior military official of the United States said on Monday that Pakistan was doing better in curbing smuggling of improvised explosive device (IED) precursors to Afghanistan as Islamabad announced a host of legal measures to deal with the threat posed by explosives.
“Situation has changed since December. Government of Pakistan has done several things,” Brig Gen Robert P. Walters Jr., deputy director of the US military’s Joint IED Defeat Organisation (Jieddo), said at a symposium held at the General Headquarters.
He was asked to give his evaluation of Pakistan’s efforts to prevent smuggling of IED precursors into Afghanistan.
Jieddo is Pentagon’s lead body on the IED threat.
Gen Walters listed Frontier Constabulary’s activities in border areas for preventing precursors’ flow into Afghanistan as the basis for his organisation’s change in assessment of Pakistan’s performance on IEDs — an issue that since 2010 has remained a sore point in bilateral relations.
He said Fatima Fertiliser Company, the main producer of fertiliser containing ammonium nitrate, had improved its distribution and tracking arrangements to ensure that its product did not fall into wrong hands.
In December, Jieddo chief Lt Gen Michael Barbero criticised Pakistan’s performance during his testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) — an agriculture fertiliser — is the most commonly used ingredient in home-made bombs. Last year, according to US estimates, about 200 tonnes of CAN were smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan. On mixing with petroleum, CAN fertiliser becomes a powerful home-made explosive.
Gen Walters said while CAN was still the most commonly used precursor, militants were increasingly turning to Potassium Chlorate.
The US has so far provided $50 million to Pakistan in five projects to build its capacity for dealing with IEDs and precursor material.
Gen Walters, however, noted that IEDs were difficult to fight and there were no easy solutions. IEDs, he feared, would remain an enduring threat in foreseeable future.
Caretaker Law Minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi, in his presentation, said the government was planning to enact an IED-specific legislation. Other measures being considered included amendment to Explosives Act 1882 to include IEDs and framing IED rules.
He said extension of Private Armies Prohibition Act, FIA Act and ATA were being extended to Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and Pata (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas), while section 121 of PPC (waging war against state) was being inserted into the Schedule of FCR.
