Religious concerns of passengers have pushed authorities to stop deploying animals with the ability to detect explosives and narcotics at airports of the country.
Shortage of trained sniffer dogs has also pushed the ICT Police’s special branch to deploy untrained animals at the Supreme Court (SC) building, which not only failed to detect arms and explosives in a mock exercise but also drew ire of the registrar of the superior court, Pakistan Today learnt reliably.
A Special Committee of the National Assembly Body on Defence was informed by officials of Ministry of Defence and customs that they were unable to deploy sniffer dogs at various airports despite the fact that they were more efficient than scanners.
National Assembly (NA) Special Committee convenor Talib Nakai said officials had also informed the committee that the high price of sniffer dogs’ imported food was another obstacle in deploying canines at airports.
He said the Committee had directed the Defence Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to first deploy sniffer dogs on international flights. “When these Pakistani passengers do not object on sniffer dogs in other countries, why do they hesitate in getting themselves sniffed by dogs in Pakistan?” he said. Nakai said the committee had summoned custom officers in next meeting and have asked an explanation in this regard.
The deteriorating security situation in the country has increased the demand of sniffer dogs, usually imported from abroad, as private companies have also started to deploy them to avert terrorist acts besides the Pakistan Army, Police, Anti-Narcotic Force, Airport Security Force, Frontier Constabulary, Frontier Corps. The daily upkeep of an imported dog costs Rs 3,000 to 4,000 including meals, accommodation and wages of a trainer and handler.
A source in the Interior Ministry said a dog deployed recently for security purposes at the Supreme Court (SC) building failed in the mock exercise as it could not detect arms and explosive material. “The Supreme Court’s registrar took up the issue with high-ups of the Ministry of Interior and ICT police and the untrained dog was therefore replaced with a highly trained one,” the source said.
An ICT police official, wishing not to be named, said the capital police was faced with a scarcity of such dogs, a reason behind its failure to deploy detective dogs at police pickets particularly at capital’s entry points. “We have no budget to buy more dogs and also cannot hire them from private firms,” he said.
The Army Dog Centre breeds and trains dogs and a majority of such trained dogs fulfill demand of the army and navy and the centre. Usually, private sector organisations such as hotels, universities hire dogs such as German Shepherd, Golden Labrador, Rottweiler from private firms.
