KARACHI, Oct 15: As the country tries to come to grips with the wave of terror and militancy affecting the entire nation, the menace of bomb scares is increasingly becoming an issue of concern. Considering the nearly daily occurrence of terrorist attacks – suicide or otherwise – in Pakistan, no chances can be taken and every bomb threat must be treated as genuine until it is proven otherwise.

Karachi, the country’s economic hub and largest city, is not immune to the nuisance of phoney bomb threats and after talking to several personnel in law enforcement, it has emerged that over the past few weeks, the city has seen an alarming rise in the number of calls made to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), stretching the already thin resources of the squad.

Considering the current condition of the BDS, the authorities must reassess their priorities and provide it the equipment and manpower required to handle genuine cases, while those making hoax calls should be dealt with accordingly as per the law to serve as a lesson to potential hoaxers.

An officer of the BDS, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Dawn about the bomb threats the squad has had to deal within the past few weeks.

“Roughly, we are getting an average of seven calls a week. There has been quite an increase witnessed over the recent past. Very few calls are genuine, but we cannot take a risk and have to respond to each one. We have to assume it is genuine. The recent trend has been to target schools and other educational institutions. Hospitals have also been targeted, while the airport is a favourite target for hoaxers. It seems like fun and games for the pranksters but it is very serious business. The hoaxers just want to spread terror and panic amongst the public.”

He added that some of the callers seemed to have links with militant outfits while others were mere pranksters making the calls for kicks. Another officer at the BDS said that at times, the number of calls received warning of bomb threats went as high as five or six a day.

Earlier this year, this newspaper had reported on the dire straits of the BDS as far as its equipment was concerned. When the source in the bomb disposal squad was asked if anything had changed, he replied in the positive.

“While the equipment has been updated, the squad requires more vehicles, emergency lights and hooters for vehicles, as time is critical in case of a genuine threat and we have to clear the way. The number of staff is adequate, but we need more officers who are well-trained and experts in bomb disposal techniques.”

This year alone Karachi has witnessed a string of bomb threats targeting various institutions. Earlier in the year the airport, a local hotel, a boarding school in Malir and the Karachi Stock Exchange received bomb threats.

On March 18, a private school in Clifton received a hoax bomb call; on April 18 a bank in the city’s central business district near the City Station received a call; on May 3 the Pakistan International Airlines head office was threatened; the Civic Centre received a call on June 5; on July 31 the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town received a bomb threat; on August 20 the University of Karachi was threatened while in the past week another school as well as a women’s university in Nazimabad were evacuated due to bomb threats.

These are the cases that have been reported in the national press as the actual total may be far higher as according to observers, the police do not have a proper system of recording the number of hoax bomb calls and the most reliable manner of gathering statistics on the issue is through press reports.