Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday proposed formation of a regional military counter-improvised explosive (C-IED) forum supported by a wider international forum to benefit from experiences of regional and global countries involved.
Addressing a day-long international symposium on C-IED "Saving lives by jointly defeating IEDs" here at the GHQ, he hoped that this proposal would receive serious consideration from the participants and their countries. He said with the support and collaboration of international community, Pakistan and the region would overcome the menace of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
"Our success will hinge upon adopting a focused and multilayered approach, improving upon the ability to work with partners around the globe and at all levels of government as well as the private sector to monitor, protect against and ultimately reduce the threat of an IED being used successfully," he added. He said, "We must continue to co-ordinate our efforts, commit the required resources and maintain the hard-earned counter-IED experiences for our collective use."
General Kayani said as a nation, Pakistanis were peace loving people. Overwhelming majority of the people was moderate, resilient and extraordinarily hardworking. He said in the recently conducted general elections, the nation had amply demonstrated that it could withstand any challenge. In these elections, the people of Pakistan not only courageously withstood the threat of terrorism, they also defied unfounded dictates of an insignificant and misguided minority.
"As a nation, our commitment to moderation, prosperity and rule of law is total and unwavering. We have the resolve and a firm belief to overcome the challenges towards attainment of these goals," he added. He said one of these challenges was the threat of terrorism. In fighting this menace, we share the experience of many other nations, he added.
Pakistan, he said, had a rich experience of dealing and succeeding against the faceless enemy, who employed highly innovative means of destruction. In pursuit of global peace, Pakistan had to respond to this enemy equally innovatively while always staying a step ahead, he added. The CoAS said over time, the IEDs had posed a new dimension of threat to the public as well as the law enforcement agencies. This threat was multidimensional and complex. He said factors like prompt availability, ease of manufacture, low production cost, innovative use and resultant devastating effects had made the IED, a weapon of choice for the terrorists. Their use had unfortunately gained wider currency.
General Kayani said the threat and impact of these weapons was not Pakistan specific. "IEDs have caused devastation at both regional and global levels." He said these had been used with unfortunate consistency in Iraq and Afghanistan and somewhat inconsistently, in other countries of the world.
Quoting an example of recent Boston bombings involving use of home-made IED, he said it manifested the international dimension of this threat and served as a stark reminder that even the most developed nations of the world remained vulnerable to this threat. He said contrary to prevalent perceptions, Pakistan had come a long way in fighting this menace over the past 2-3 years.
Pakistan, he said, had had taken significant policy initiatives to counter the IED threat. The Pakistan Army aware of the seriousness of the threat, was leading the drive to create a pragmatic, cost-effective and efficient C-IED strategy. He said this strategy was aimed at creating awareness, assisting legislation, adopting the best practices from across the world, suitably equipping the forces and effectively training them. The strategy thus aimed at developing a proactive, rather than a reactive response at the national level. He said production of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (commonly known as CAN), one of the precursors of IEDs, had come under national and international focus to the extent of creating a perception that controlling CAN alone, could remove the menace of IEDs and "our arguments against that perception were almost taken as unwilling to act against IEDS."
He said that CAN was only one of the precursors of IEDs as there were dozens other which remained readily available. Moreover, Pakistan was not only the country producing CAN as other countries in the region also produce CAN which had a higher degree of nitrogen content than what Pakistani CAN possesses.
He said that there was evidence that as Pakistan tightened the control on sale and distribution of CAN, terrorists simply switched to other precursors, like Potassium Chlorate, not produced in Pakistan. The predicament thus clearly reflected the necessity of an approach, which was comprehensive involving all countries of the region, he added.
General Kayani said the symposium had provided a forum to sit together and seriously debate upon the issue and find solutions to the threat of IEDs. Expressing his confidence, he said it would strengthen resilience of Pakistani nation in defeating IEDs in an effective and responsible manner.
He said the participation of representatives from 28 countries was a vivid expression of the desire of international community to fight terrorism. It was also reflective of the international community's willingness to play a greater role in the region in dealing with the multiple issues associated with IEDs.
In his welcome address, Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lieutenant General Rashad Mehmood threw light the purpose, theme, scope and format of the symposium which offered a platform for discussion on IED related issues, created requisite awareness about its challenges and highlighted efforts made so far by Pakistan in countering IED threat. He said that the symposium also provided a forum to select members of international community to learn about Pakistan's counter IED efforts in terms of successes and predicaments. In his presentation, Director General Military Operations (DGMO), Major General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad looked at the IED threat spectrum, sufferings from IEDs, significance of "Whole of Nation Approach", Pakistan/Pakistan Army's C-IED strategy, follow in efforts, challenges and future plans to meet the IED threat.
He informed that so far more than 51,000 people at national level had lost their lives as a result of blasts caused by IEDs since the start of war against terrorism. Major General Ishfaq Nadeem opined that under a de-radicalization programme, the youth could be prevented joining militancy by creating awareness against the menace of terrorism.
Chairman C-IED Organisation, Major General Sohail Hafeez discussed the menace of IED and Pakistan Army's efforts in countering this threat while Major General Sohail Hafeez talked about the hidden trauma, nature and type of casualties and rehabilitation challenges. In his presentation, caretaker Minister for Law and renowned legal expert, Ahmed Bilal Soofi dilated on contemporary legal practices, prosecution challenges and legal framework models to counter the IED threat.
He said that on May 11, the people of Pakistan voted for democracy and rejected the agenda of non-state actors during the general elections, besides erasing the wrong perception about the country in the world. He said that laws were being drafted to punish terrorists through legal process and added that under a programme, curricula of Madaris (religious schools) would be upgraded to bring them into mainstream education system.
In his presentation, anchorperson Talat Hussain dilated on the role of media in community awareness and public responsibilities in dealing with the menace of IEDs. He strongly supported the role of media, especially the radio, television and the print, for creating awareness among the people against the threat of IED.
Deputy Director for Operations/Intelligence Integration, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organisation, USA, Brigadier General Roberts P. Walters Jr. shared the US experience on countering the IED threat. In his presentation, Director, Battlefield Manoeuvre and Master General of Ordnance, Major General Nick Pope of the British Army looked at international efforts on counter IEDs and sharing of the best practices, especially focusing on lead nations' C-IED models (USA, UK and Australia).
The day-long activity, spread over four session brought together seven speakers including two senior officers as speakers from the United States of America (USA) and British Army and around 170 participants, including 60 foreign diplomats/delegates and guests from the government, army, law enforcement agencies, academia, industry, private sector, subject matter experts, members of local and international media.
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