PESHAWAR, Oct 11: A good number of precious stones smuggled from Afghanistan were on display with the local gems at the 10th Pakistan Gems and Mineral Show held at a local hotel here on Saturday.

The best tourmaline of Pech district of Kunar and Paprak area of Nooristan, hachamnite from Badakhshan and ruby from Jagdark area of Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan were on the show.

“These stones are being smuggled from Afghanistan in a large quantity to Peshawar, the main trading centre of gem stones in the region,” Afghan refugee Ghulam Murtaza hailing from Kabul told Dawn at his stall.

He said traders (smugglers) brought these gem stones easily to the Namak Mandi market in Peshawar as these were easy to hide in luggage or even in pockets.

Mr Murtaza said garnet from Iran also being brought in to the Peshawar markets via Herat province of Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Gems and Mineral Association (PGMA) every year hold a show to attract foreign buyers, the association president Imran Nazir said. This time, the event was organized with the help of Export Promotion Bureau.

He said the cutting of gem stones in Pakistan was not according to the international standard, but since the establishment of the Gem and Gemological Institute, the standard of cutting, polishing and curving was being improved.

The pink and yellow topaz of Katlang (Mardan), tourmaline of Gilgit and Skardu and the peridot of Regi (Peshawar) were the best stones in the country, which were also displayed, Mr Imran said.

Export Promotion Bureau Director Tauhid Jan said the export of gem stones were being increased every year.

Now the Gems and Gemological Institute had produced 500 gem stone cutting experts, which would enable the country to export the finished product abroad, Mr Jan said.

“We have experts in stone curving, the rare technique in precious stone markets,” he asserted.

But the inconsistency in gem stone mining by suppliers had been hampering the export, he said and added that now it was up to the private sector to improve this business.

Contrary to the EPB director claim, the Pakistan export of gem stones are on the decline for the last three years.

In 2000-01, Pakistan exported $16.28 million gem stones while in 2001-02, the export sharply declined to $6.37 million.

The gem stone export in 2002-03 was $5.57, whereas the July and August export is mere $.99 million.