RAWALPINDI  - IED is being used by the militants in form of homemade bombs across the world including Pakistan. It is a ‘homemade’ device that is designed to cause death or injury by using explosives alone or in combination with toxic material.

According to security officials here on Sunday, IEDs can be produced in varying sizes, functioning methods, containers, and delivery methods. IEDs can utilise commercial or military explosives, homemade explosives, or military ordnance and ordnance components.
Due to lower cost involved in make and manufacture, it has emerged as the single most dominant weapon in militancy against the state and society, and has made the human life very cheap.
Alongside Iraq, Afghanistan including the foreign forces in these countries, Pakistan has been one of the worst-hit countries wherein IEDs have caused irremediable devastation and destruction.
The civilians and the security forces personnel have suffered alike. Countless people have fallen victim to IED incidents on the globe during the last over one decade, of whom thousands have been killed and many more maimed.
Whereas Pakistan’s security forces have tried to put up a professional institutional response to counter the threat in all its dimensions both in offensive and defensive manner, however, the menace does not seem to peter out.
While using the IEDs, the perpetrators possess the initiative with regard to the time and place of attack. In addition to being used as wayside bombs, IED is also used as vehicle-borne bombs and person-borne bombs.
The latter is the most effective form as it takes the form of suicide bombing, which is comparatively most difficult to counter or control among all categories of IEDs.
Security is everyone’s responsibility and so is the need to counter IEDs, which fall within the realm of security and protection of population.
Inter alia, protective response to IEDs by every individual and each segment of the society, whether public or private is imperative.
This would not only save precious civilian lives but would also facilitate the job of the security forces in protection of population and vital assets, both public and private.
They said the foremost step needed on the way of combating IEDs is to inculcate awarenessts such as: magnitude of threat; make and type of IED; who all could be perpetrators; what are the objectives of the perpetrators; what could be the most likely targets for IEDs; what could be the forms and shapes of and IED; how to identify a device, how to save oneself and the others, and how and to whom to report; how to identify a suicide bomber; and what action to take in case it become clear that such a person is approaching a person, place or a group of persons.
Requisite level of awareness and cautiousness in masses is expected to work towards avoiding and minimising damage in case of IED incidents to a great extent.