FOR Jamshed Khan, a commercial exporter with 40 years of experience, value addition of precious stones is no more a snag in boosting the country’s gems export; it is the militancy in the NWFP that is the key hurdle.

“We can produce good quality gems, but there is no international buyer,” says Mr Khan, who owns a showroom at the Namakmandi, a hub of gems dealers in Peshawar.

NWFP is blessed with huge deposits of 12 different kinds of precious and semi-precious stones, which can fetch $500 million foreign exchange annually if the government facilitates this sector and the security situation improves.

“The security situation in Peshawar is not as bad as projected in foreign media that keeps foreign buyers away from us,” remarks Mr Khan, who is also head of the All Pakistan Commercial Exporters’ Association (APCEA).

Over the years, both the government and the private sector have invested a lot of money in the development of gems sector and increasing its export potentials with positive outcome. The total exports of precious and semi-precious stones increased from $4.21 million in 1995 to $16 million in 2001.

But, since 9/11, the export of gems is on the decline; in last fiscal year, the export fell to $10.65 million — a drop of almost $6 million.

The Frontier province has huge deposits of emerald, ruby, pink topaz, lapis lazuli, tourmalines, kunzite, garnet, serpentine, fluorite and aquamarine.

Emerald is mined in the picturesque valley of Swat. According to Dr Edward Gubelin, the celebrated gemologist, these emeralds “have become well-known for their brilliant, medium to deep green colour as well as for their unique transparency, comparable to the fine specimens from Muzo, Colombia.”

Likewise, tourmaline, garnet, fluorite and aquamarine are some other precious stones mined in Swat in abundance, but their extraction is not taking place because of ongoing military operation there, says Mr Khan.

“Major part of my business was based on stones coming from Swat, but because of the security situation, the supply is disrupted,” he said.

Pakistan’s first Gems and Gemological Institute (GGI) and Gems Exchange have also helped a lot in value-addition in precious stones.

Malak Pervez Elahi, an executive member of the APCEA, recalls: “There was a time, when Namakmandi had only few showrooms and craft shops, but now these are in thousands.”

He says: “In the past we used to export rough stones to India, Sri Lanka and Thailand for value-addition. This benefited only the exporters and craftsmen of those countries. But now, we can cut and polish them locally, although our skills are not up to the international standards.”

Marketing of finished products, he says, is still one of the neglected areas for lack of government support. “Indians are our counterparts, but the government doesn’t issue them group visas, whenever there is exhibition in Pakistan and that restricts our exports.”

“If there is a cricket match, the government can allow 5,000 people across the border to come, but it doesn’t allow business people to come here,” laments Mr Elahi, saying the government should review its visa policy.

Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, another executive member of APCEA, believes that that the government should give incentives to the industry to help promote exports.

The scientific polishing and finishing of precious stones and use of international standard of cutting and polishing technology could convert the sector into a household industry and increase the national gemstone export to $500 million, he says.

He argues that India despite having smaller reserves of the precious stones, was earning more than $5 billion through value- addition.

The GGI trains 200 craftsmen on yearly basis; now the need is to set up modern laboratories and machinery on the pattern of Jaipur institute in India, says Mr Sarhadi.

Recently, the federal government has set up the Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company to promote exports of gems sector.

But, there is a need for identification of new deposits and scientific quantification of existing ones, undertaking geological survey to establish proven reserves, setting up of common facilities, training centres, gems certification laboratories and branding of gems.