Abdul Razzaq — BDS commander who sacrificed his life in line of duty

Abdul Razzaq, a resident of Quetta, went by many names because of his talent for playing with fire. He had a knack for defusing explosive devices since teenage — a trait quite unlike the ones which his peers possessed.

For his colleagues, who knew what he did for a living, he was a super cop because as the Commander Bomb Disposal Squad he had defused more than 600 different explosive devices until his “untimely” death in February, this year.

He made his risky job even more precarious by avoiding wearing a bomb disposal suit. Every day, the 36-year-old had to put himself in the harm’s way to keep others safe. In fact, he faced threats 24/7 in a province such as Balochistan, where bomb blasts and rocket firing incidents have become a matter of routine since 2001.

“Over 2,949 incidents of bomb blasts, suicidal bombings, and rocket fire, which claimed the lives of 2,880 people, have been reported in Quetta and the rest of the province since 2007”, said the Quetta police record.

Abdul Razzaq was called to reach and check Saryab road, where a suspicious plastic shopper was spotted near the bridge on February 13, 2017. Officials and his colleagues said that the commander had jammed two options that could lead to the explosion -- timer and remote control-- and as he was about to work on the third option that might be photocell switch, the explosive device went off with a big bang.

The explosion was so powerful that the commander Abdul Razzaq and his colleague police constable Abdul Majeed stood no chance of survival.

During the last one and a half decade, Commander Abdul Razzaq had defused more than 600 explosive devices, including IEDs, high power explosive, time devices, rockets etc,  not only in Quetta but also elsewhere in Balochistan. Undeniably, Abdul Razzaq had been giving the militants a hard time.

“This is a huge loss for the entire force. His [Commander Abdur Razzaq’s] gallant endeavours are not hidden from anyone”, said IG Police Balochistan Ahsan Mehboob.

Abdul Razzaq originally belonged to Quetta and completed his early education from Islamia School and passed his matriculation in the late 1990s. Later, he completed the ‘patwari’ course and preferred to join the police department and soon he was promoted as the head constable because of his bravery and counter-terrorism attempts.

The late commander’s achievements include a Pakistan Police Medal and Quaid-e-Azam Police Medal.

As a man with nerves of steel, his life was not easy. He used to mentor his juniors in the far flung areas of Balochistan and taught then the way to manage precarious situations. The famed and fearless BDS commander had 21 years of experience behind him and managed a big team of BDS members across Balochistan. His life was always in danger because he foiled many nefarious designs of anti-state elements. He always had a strong belief in destiny and used to say “when I have to die, nothing will save me and when I have to live on no one can kill me”.

Given the risk involved in his career, the commander didn't want to get married as he did not want to have a family without him being around. He, however, left behind an aged mother and eight siblings.

“He never succumbed to threats, never talked of backing out. If he wanted to, he would have done. He used to share his feeling with his siblings and colleagues saying, ‘I’m proud to serve the people and I will continue to serve them’” said Ghulam Mustafa, younger brother of the commander.

“He bravely continued the fight against terrorism”, said his brother.

The mother of commander Abdur Razzaq asks the Balochistan home minister "what was the sin of my son"

In Balochistan, the BDS staffers are constantly at risk, facing the threat of explosions. Unfortunately, the BDS is desperately short of equipment and manpower.

As per the record, 17 posts of the BDS commanders and technicians are lying vacant in the provincial police department since long.

 The Quetta police’s bomb disposal squad unit is working without proper safety measures and equipment.

The situation can be assessed from the fact that there aren't enough bomb suits to go around, and the BD team of the special branch has one BD suit, which the staff hardly uses because of its weight.

Unfortunately, the main protection for a bomb technician is no thicker than the clothes he is wearing, and the tools are just a set of screwdrivers, pliers, pincers and knives.

Whereas, the civil defence has displayed one robot, one BD suit and water cannon gun in their offices, which were donated by the UK.

This situation raises a serious question whether we are ready to counter terrorism in a province such as Balochistan, where work is going on $46 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor connecting Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang province, and hostile forces are also hatching conspiracies against the mega project.

- Muhammad Ejaz Khan is the bureau chief at the Quetta office of Geo Television.