Gunsmiths of Darra to attend arms fairs in Dubai, US
By Abdul Sami Paracha
KOHAT, Dec 6: The Defence Export Promotion Organisation has invited a number of arms manufacturers from Darra Adamkhel to take part in fairs in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Las Vegas, United States.
Darra Adamkhel is in the Kohat Frontier Region. The defence export organization is affiliated with the ministry of defence production. The Dubai Fair is scheduled to be held from Jan 15 17, 2005, while the Las Vegas 'Shot Show' would be held from Jan 28 31.
The government is trying to provide a platform for close interaction between arms manufacturers and decision-makers and promote hunting and sporting products manufactured in ordinance factories in Wah and Darra Adamkhel, besides contributing to the country's economic development.
The defence ministry has offered tribesmen an opportunity to participate in the trade events at a subsidized rate of $200 per square meter per stall instead of $400 to enable them to earn through legal means.
Traders from Darra Adamkhel are already exporting spare parts of hunting guns to the US, Germany and other European countries for many years. There are more than 1,000 big and small weapon factories in the Darra Adamkhel area whose gunsmiths are renowned for their skill to copy weaponry and ammunition manufactured anywhere in the world.
Thousands of specialist machinists, mostly from Punjab, are employed there. Interestingly, in an area where women are discouraged to pursue creative vocations, they help their families by filling bullets and ammunition shells with explosive material.
Arms smuggling is the sole source of income for the people of the Darra and a large quantity of arms and ammunition is smuggled to other parts of the country, mostly Punjab and Sindh, where the demand has not dwindled despite a ban on the issuance of fresh licenses of automatic weapons imposed by the Musharraf government since 1999.
Haji Fazlur Rehman Afridi, proprietor of the Khyber Rifles, and Nasir Afridi proudly, who showed their invitations sent by the ministry of defence to this correspondent, said they had already sent names of participants attending the two arms fairs.
