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| November 29, 2001 | Thursday | Ramazan 13, 1422 |
Darra arms industry doing brisk business: Bullet shortage in Afghanistan
KOHAT, Nov 28: A large number of experienced hands from Darra Adam Khel arms manufacturing industry have gone to Afghanistan to repair light artillery and other guns rendered defective during the recent Afghan war.
The arms and ammunition industry which had been dormant since the ban imposed by the Musharraf government in 1999 on carrying of arms and issuance of fresh arms licenses it had fast recovered during the last fortnight where the ammunition factories were operating day and night to make up for the shortage of bullets of all kinds in Afghanistan.
The smuggling route was the same that is Darra-Kohat and the bordering tribal belt in the east. The intelligence officials commented that it was the safest route both for the arms and drug smugglers because Kohat was the main exit from the tribal areas to the down country through which also passes the busy Indus Highway.
As far as the drugs were concerned it was virtually impossible for the law enforcing agencies to carry out checking of millions of passengers who travel on this road which passes through parts of NWFP, Punjab and ends at Karachi. That was why the terrorists who buy arms from Darra Adam Khel, Frontier Region of Kohat, did not hamper peace here.
Since independence not a single blast or terrorist attack had occurred in Kohat due to that very reason, a senior official said. Once the smugglers had crossed the two main check posts between Darra and Kohat they feel free to go any where inside the country or sneak back into another tribal area by simply telling the staff of the check posts that they were coming from Kohat.
A Dawn survey revealed that the tribesmen had invested more money in the ammunition manufacturing business during the recent past and two new big factories had been established in the outskirts of the Darra bazaar.
These factories were producing bullets for AK-47 assault rifles and 30 bore pistols which are a very common and trusted weapon for self defence and attack. Small mortars were also being manufactured on a limited scale.
It may be recalled that the Darra technicians had acquired bomb making technology and developed its machinery in early eighties during the martial law of late Gen Zia ul Haq.
Ijaz, 28 who owns a small factory where 30 bore pistols were manufactured showed dozens of closed workshops near the Darra bazaar from where people have gone to various parts of Afghanistan to repair big guns, tanks, rocket and missile launchers.
To a question he replied that all the necessary equipment were provided by the war lords to the technicians in Afghanistan even the raw material for making spares. If they need anything special they come back and take the machinery with them to Afghanistan.
A friend of an Afghan commander said that in some parts new warlords had taken over from TalIban who had purchased trucks load of ammunition from Darra Adam Khel to strengthen their position against their rival tribes.
But generally speaking the business of arms had showed a steep decline since 1999 ban and only those factory owners were making recoveries who had connections with the Afghan warlords. The common workers in about 900 big and small factories had been complaining of work orders from the shopkeepers and buyers from various parts of the country.
The shopkeepers interviewed during the survey said that they had been selling only shot guns to the hunters. They sold two to three shot guns on each average day.
On the other hand the defence ministry with the US help had tightened security through deployment of troops, artillery and erecting barbed wire at 170 points on the 1500 kilometre long Durand line from Torkham in the North West Frontier Province and Chamman in Balochistan which had resulted in virtual halt to the smuggling of electronic goods from across the border and food, medicines and fertilizer from Pakistan.
On the other hand the smuggling of drugs in small quantities had increased from Afghanistan to the tribal areas in Pakistan and onward to the settled areas. The smugglers, both national and international were exhausting their stocks in the wake of tightened security at the airports and borders all over the world.
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