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Pakistani Arms Dealers Hail God and the AK-47
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 7— Haji Baz Gul, the owner of Arms Store No. 1 in Darra Adam Khel, an hour's drive south of here, said he was not worried about peace breaking out in neighboring Afghanistan.
''We're very happy when peace comes to this part of the world,'' he said, while all around his shop in the arms bazaar sellers and customers were test-firing pistols into the air. ''But we believe in God, and he will make some other business for us.''
''God will send customers from another part,'' he continued. ''I'm not afraid.''
He directed a questioner's attention to his photograph in a recent issue of National Geographic, and was pleased to present the range of his merchandise. Mr. Gul's principal stock in trade is no longer the locally made rifles, shotguns and pistols that are part of the business and leisure wear of all the adult men in this tribal area of North-West Frontier Province. Ammunition at 9 Cents a Round
In addition to various versions of the Soviet AK-47 rifle, the arms dealer said he supplies the guerrillas with ammunition, at 9 cents a round, and such weapons as Chinese and Soviet rocket-launchers and rockets, Soviet, Chinese and American land mines, and machine guns, largely Soviet-made.
His main customers were represented by a silent, unsmiling man sitting next to him in the rug-covered rear of his shop.
''He's bought for 30 million rupees,'' or $1.7 million, over the years, the dealer confided. ''He still owes 10 million. He pays in rupees, sometimes dollars. Dollars very good.''
The man, according to Mr. Gul, is a buyer for one of the seven political parties that make up the Peshawar-based alliance of the Afghan insurgent movement. The man neither confirmed nor denied the arms dealer's identification.
Mr. Gul said the Afghan was buying quantities of the principal rifle of all parties in the Afghan war: the Soviet-designed AK-47, or Kalashnikov, automatic rifle. It is used by the Soviet Army, its Afghan Government allies and all the insurgent groups.
Mr. Gul carries the weapon in three versions: the original Soviet model, which sells for about $1,400; the rifle produced in China under license, at $1,150, or a copy made by the local arms makers. The local copy costs about $400, and according to those who have used it in combat, it is not worth even that.
A neighbor, an arms dealer on a smaller scale, said prices for AK-47's took a dip last month when the Soviet Union said it was ready to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within a year. But he seemed relieved to report that after a few days of reflection the Afghan fighters became less sure that peace was near, and the price has reached its old level.
''Business is very good,'' said Mr. Gul. ''We don't believe in war. We believe in God.''
The United States, through the Pakistani military, supplies most of the insurgents' weapons. The arms are for the most part of Communist manufacture, because they are compatible with the equipment the Moslem fighters capture from their enemies. Smuggling or Trade? The unlicensed manufacture of arms and smuggling of arms and everything else are deeply anchored traditions in the tribal areas around Peshawar. The sway of the Islamabad Government is severely limited in the zones governed by the tribes, and smuggling, said Peshawar's customs collector, Salim Malik, is not against their canon.
''I call it smuggling,'' he said. ''For them, it's trade. Nowhere in the Koran is it said you can't do this.'' He threw up his hands and looked heavenward, in despair that seemed real.
Since the tribal areas are, in effect, duty-free zones where the national customs service has no access, they have always been a smuggler's paradise. But the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan has made things much more acute, said Mr. Malik.
A wide range of consumer goods are smuggled into the tribal areas, and from there they find their way into all parts of Pakistan. In addition to goods from Western Europe and Communist and non-Communist Asia, large quantities of Soviet household goods, notably refrigerators, are sold in Pakistan at rock-bottom prices.
''They're really killing us,'' said Mr. Malik, referring to the damage the Soviet dumping of goods was having on Pakistan customs revenues.
The vast bazaar at Bara, in a tribal area a short drive south of here, sells almost exclusively imported goods that have never passed through Pakistani customs. The same is the case at a smaller market in this city. Japanese electronics, West European toiletries, dishes and housewares, textiles from all over Asia are openly sold, alongside guns and narcotics.
A dealer in the Peshawar bazaar, whose specialty is kitchen utensils and housewares, gave this explanation:
On regular shopping trips to Europe and Asia, he and his colleagues buy large consignments, to be shipped to Singapore. There they are shipped by sea to the Soviet Union. The goods proceed by rail across the Soviet Union, by road to Kabul, and on bonded trucks, ostensibly for transshipment through Karachi, to the Pakistani border.
But Pakistani customs controls only a narrow strip at the border post at Torkhan. Shortly beyond it, the trucks leave the main Khyber road to deliver their cargoes to various markets in tribal areas. Because the Government in Islamabad, like its British colonial predecessor, has never been able to dominate the border tribes, it sees no choice but to close its eyes.
The alternative would be the risk of tribal warfare. Occasional kidnappings reinforce the tribal assertions of autonomous power in their regions.
Customs tries to limit the trade by checkpoints on the highways leading out of the border regions and confiscations of imported goods that have not passed through customs. But for $30 extra, a Soviet refrigerator or air-conditioner will be safely delivered to Lahore or Karachi.
In the Bara market, Naseeb's Arms and Crockery Dealers sells Chinese and Italian kitchenwares on the shelves, pistols in the showcases and rifles leaning in racks along the walls.
The shop next door has no name. It sells guns, loaves of black opium and cakes of grayish-brown hashish, openly displayed. ''No heroin, no heroin,'' the shopkeeper volunteered.
Local people said the assertion would not stand up to inspection.
By HENRY KAMM, Special to the New York Times
Published: March 8, 1988
Pakistani Arms Dealers Hail God and the AK-47 - NYTimes.com
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 7— Haji Baz Gul, the owner of Arms Store No. 1 in Darra Adam Khel, an hour's drive south of here, said he was not worried about peace breaking out in neighboring Afghanistan.
''We're very happy when peace comes to this part of the world,'' he said, while all around his shop in the arms bazaar sellers and customers were test-firing pistols into the air. ''But we believe in God, and he will make some other business for us.''
''God will send customers from another part,'' he continued. ''I'm not afraid.''
He directed a questioner's attention to his photograph in a recent issue of National Geographic, and was pleased to present the range of his merchandise. Mr. Gul's principal stock in trade is no longer the locally made rifles, shotguns and pistols that are part of the business and leisure wear of all the adult men in this tribal area of North-West Frontier Province. Ammunition at 9 Cents a Round
In addition to various versions of the Soviet AK-47 rifle, the arms dealer said he supplies the guerrillas with ammunition, at 9 cents a round, and such weapons as Chinese and Soviet rocket-launchers and rockets, Soviet, Chinese and American land mines, and machine guns, largely Soviet-made.
His main customers were represented by a silent, unsmiling man sitting next to him in the rug-covered rear of his shop.
''He's bought for 30 million rupees,'' or $1.7 million, over the years, the dealer confided. ''He still owes 10 million. He pays in rupees, sometimes dollars. Dollars very good.''
The man, according to Mr. Gul, is a buyer for one of the seven political parties that make up the Peshawar-based alliance of the Afghan insurgent movement. The man neither confirmed nor denied the arms dealer's identification.
Mr. Gul said the Afghan was buying quantities of the principal rifle of all parties in the Afghan war: the Soviet-designed AK-47, or Kalashnikov, automatic rifle. It is used by the Soviet Army, its Afghan Government allies and all the insurgent groups.
Mr. Gul carries the weapon in three versions: the original Soviet model, which sells for about $1,400; the rifle produced in China under license, at $1,150, or a copy made by the local arms makers. The local copy costs about $400, and according to those who have used it in combat, it is not worth even that.
A neighbor, an arms dealer on a smaller scale, said prices for AK-47's took a dip last month when the Soviet Union said it was ready to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within a year. But he seemed relieved to report that after a few days of reflection the Afghan fighters became less sure that peace was near, and the price has reached its old level.
''Business is very good,'' said Mr. Gul. ''We don't believe in war. We believe in God.''
The United States, through the Pakistani military, supplies most of the insurgents' weapons. The arms are for the most part of Communist manufacture, because they are compatible with the equipment the Moslem fighters capture from their enemies. Smuggling or Trade? The unlicensed manufacture of arms and smuggling of arms and everything else are deeply anchored traditions in the tribal areas around Peshawar. The sway of the Islamabad Government is severely limited in the zones governed by the tribes, and smuggling, said Peshawar's customs collector, Salim Malik, is not against their canon.
''I call it smuggling,'' he said. ''For them, it's trade. Nowhere in the Koran is it said you can't do this.'' He threw up his hands and looked heavenward, in despair that seemed real.
Since the tribal areas are, in effect, duty-free zones where the national customs service has no access, they have always been a smuggler's paradise. But the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan has made things much more acute, said Mr. Malik.
A wide range of consumer goods are smuggled into the tribal areas, and from there they find their way into all parts of Pakistan. In addition to goods from Western Europe and Communist and non-Communist Asia, large quantities of Soviet household goods, notably refrigerators, are sold in Pakistan at rock-bottom prices.
''They're really killing us,'' said Mr. Malik, referring to the damage the Soviet dumping of goods was having on Pakistan customs revenues.
The vast bazaar at Bara, in a tribal area a short drive south of here, sells almost exclusively imported goods that have never passed through Pakistani customs. The same is the case at a smaller market in this city. Japanese electronics, West European toiletries, dishes and housewares, textiles from all over Asia are openly sold, alongside guns and narcotics.
A dealer in the Peshawar bazaar, whose specialty is kitchen utensils and housewares, gave this explanation:
On regular shopping trips to Europe and Asia, he and his colleagues buy large consignments, to be shipped to Singapore. There they are shipped by sea to the Soviet Union. The goods proceed by rail across the Soviet Union, by road to Kabul, and on bonded trucks, ostensibly for transshipment through Karachi, to the Pakistani border.
But Pakistani customs controls only a narrow strip at the border post at Torkhan. Shortly beyond it, the trucks leave the main Khyber road to deliver their cargoes to various markets in tribal areas. Because the Government in Islamabad, like its British colonial predecessor, has never been able to dominate the border tribes, it sees no choice but to close its eyes.
The alternative would be the risk of tribal warfare. Occasional kidnappings reinforce the tribal assertions of autonomous power in their regions.
Customs tries to limit the trade by checkpoints on the highways leading out of the border regions and confiscations of imported goods that have not passed through customs. But for $30 extra, a Soviet refrigerator or air-conditioner will be safely delivered to Lahore or Karachi.
In the Bara market, Naseeb's Arms and Crockery Dealers sells Chinese and Italian kitchenwares on the shelves, pistols in the showcases and rifles leaning in racks along the walls.
The shop next door has no name. It sells guns, loaves of black opium and cakes of grayish-brown hashish, openly displayed. ''No heroin, no heroin,'' the shopkeeper volunteered.
Local people said the assertion would not stand up to inspection.
By HENRY KAMM, Special to the New York Times
Published: March 8, 1988
Pakistani Arms Dealers Hail God and the AK-47 - NYTimes.com
