ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: In a campaign to curb illegal arms manufacturing in the tribal areas, authorities are attempting to lure weapon manufacturers into the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF).

The move by the POF is paying dividends, officials say, pointing to the slowing of production in Darra Adamkhel arms bazaar, near Peshawar.

“So far, we have brought in around 100 top quality ‘artisans’ to the complex. Their absence from Darra Adamkhel and their presence here is certainly making a big difference,” POF Chairman Lt-Gen Abdul Qay-yum told AFP.

Picked up from some 300 workshops operating in the tribal belt, they are employed at the POF, a cluster of 14 factories.

Tribesmen admit that the POF recruitment scheme had slowed arms production in their home region.

“Many people are losing jobs,” said Mohammad Waqas Afridi, who specializes in assembling crude replicas of the Russian Kalashnikov assault rifle AK-47.

The arms trade in Darra Adamkhel played a key role during the 1979-89 war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and the subsequent civil war among rival Mujahideen groups.

The bazaar, known for its cheap weapons, provided rocket launchers, hand grenades and even anti-aircraft guns to the Afghan guerrillas.

Arms manufacturing has become a cottage industry in the area, where tribesmen brandish rocket launchers and AK-47s. But the unchecked production in the region poses a danger for the government, as the weapons fall into private hands.

The government launched a de-weaponization campaign in June 2001, and stepped up border vigilance to curb trafficking of weapons as Pakistan joined the Washington-led war against terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US.

“Before the war, business was good and I used to make around Rs7,000 a month. Here I get Rs4,000, but with free medical facilities and other amenities, it’s okay,” said Mr Afridi, 21, who worked for five years in one of Darra Adamkhel’s factories before moving to the POF last year.

But his colleague, Haji Noor, is unhappy the money offered to him does not match his skills. “Wages here are small. I used to earn Rs10,000 a month there. Here I hardly make Rs4,000 to Rs5,000. I’m thinking of going back,” said Mr Noor, 28.

Gen Qayyum said luring the tribal arms makers to the POF was not easy. “But our incentives and their sense of responsibility prevailed,” he said and added: “Now we are focusing on bringing the best of them here.”

However, the general conceded that the small wages offered by the POF could not totally wipe out the illegal weapons scourge. “POF alone is not enough to rid the country of illegal arms. There is a strong need for private sector participation.”