National Workshop on Evolving responses to Countering Improvised Explosive Devices in terrorism-related offenses through downstream network disruption

28 July 2024, Murree - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, in collaboration with the National Action to Counter Terrorism (NACTA) and with financial support from the U.S. Embassy's Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement  (INL), organized a three-day National Workshop on Evolving responses to Countering Improvised Explosive Devices in terrorism-related offenses through downstream network disruption from July 10-12, 2024, at Murree.

The purpose of the workshop was to gather data from national officials from multiple organizations and agencies, including the Bomb Disposal Unit, Civil Defense officials, Forensic Science Agencies, Intelligence Bureau, and Federal Investigation Agency through the development of downstream network and financial disruption strategies to counter Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IEDs). International participating organizations included Terrorism Prevention Branch, UNODC, Vienna.

The first day of the workshop was focused on the UNIDIR Self-Assessment Tools on IEDs. This session familiarized participants with the self-assessment tools developed by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) to evaluate their capabilities in countering improvised explosive devices (C-IEDs) and identify areas for improvement. Then the next session explored the international legal framework surrounding counterterrorism (CT) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), with a specific focus on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2370 (2017). Participants gained an understanding of the legal obligations and provisions related to preventing the use of IEDs as a tool of terrorism and the role of international cooperation in addressing this threat.

On the last day of the workshop, participants shared their national experiences, good practices, and challenges in countering IEDs. The purpose was to foster knowledge exchange and peer learning, enabling participants to gain insights into successful strategies, innovative approaches, and potential solutions to common challenges in C-IED efforts. Participants learned about the objectives, methodologies, and tools employed by Watchmakers to disrupt the illegal supply chain and support law enforcement efforts in countering IEDs. The final session remained focused on data collection and rating by the officials on the assessment questions of Downstream network to finally evaluate the capability of Pakistan in countering IEDs across all the eight components of downstream network.

The workshop resulted in the development of a complete matrix inclusive of scoring by officials on the downstream component along with justifications. A summary sheet was developed representing Pakistan’s current standing in countering IED’s.