Any explosive weapon that does not originate from an industrial production line can be classified as an IED. Such devices are being used extensively by insurgents due to the easy availability of over the counter ingredients that can be put together with very little effort, but have far reaching effects. Thus it becomes a highly effective asymmetric weapon. These can be classified in several categories including roadside bombs, improvised land mines, suicide bomber vests, car bombs and others. The use of IED is not a new phenomenon, as it has been used as an effective weapon by insurgent and combat forces previously. However, the use of IED in the past has been fairly limited but has now become the post 9/11 signature weapon, widely employed by terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Further, its extensive and long term use has allowed the technology to evolve and develop and its users to gain expertise in its usage, thus adding to the difficulty in counter operations by security forces. So far, 34,236 casualties have been reported in the last one decade where 4,938 casualties alone have been experienced by Pakistani soldiers and law enforcers who have borne serious injuries that include amputation of either one or more limbs. This enhances the need to step up the process of countering the menace. Pakistan’s endeavors in this area have undergone rapid change where both the government and armed forces have increased their efforts manifold in the past few years. The primary and most easily purchased material used in IED production is nitrogen that is found in chemical fertilisers such as Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN), being an agricultural country it can be readily found in local markets. To check this trend the Government has banned the export of CAN and such chemical based fertilisers and has issued NoC’s for the sale and purchase of these items under strict supervision, and disallows the transport of CAN and other such fertilisers within a 50 km of the border areas for enhanced safety purposes.The armed forces have initiated efforts to minimise possibility of cross-border smuggling of CAN by increasing the number of troops manning border posts. Further, they are conducting military search operations to locate IED manufacturing sites. Large amounts of IED manufacturing material has been recovered in many places. Moreover, media awareness campaigns are being run in order to bring the issue to the notice of the public so that society also plays its part in bringing by assisting the government and the security forces. LUBNA UMAR, Islamabad, July 5.