In Pak’s tribal town, guns cheaper than smartphones

Darra Adamkhel, July 28

Gunfire echoes through a dusty northwest tribal town, the soundtrack to Pakistan’s biggest arms black market, where Kalashnikovs welded from scrap metal are cheaper than smartphones.

Darra Adamkhel, a town surrounded by hills around 35 km south of Peshawar, was a hub of criminal activity for decades. Smugglers and drug runners were common and everything from stolen cars to fake university degrees could be procured.

This illicit trade boomed in the 1980s: The mujahideen began buying weapons from here for Afghanistan’s battle against the Soviets. Later, the town became a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who enforced their strict rules and parallel system of justice.

Now Darra is clean of all but the arms, yet the gunsmiths say the region’s improved security and authorities’ growing intolerance for illegal weaponry are withering an industry that sustained them for decades.

“(The) Nawaz Sharif government has established checkpoints everywhere, business is stopped,” said Khitab Gul, 45.

Gul is known in Darra for his replicas of Turkish and Bulgarian-made MP5 submachine guns, one of the most popular weapons in the world.

The MP5 can retail for thousands of dollars. Gul’s version, which comes with one-year guarantee, costs Rs 7,000 ($67). A Darra-made Kalashnikov, Gul says, can sell for $125, cheaper than most smartphones. “The workers here are so skilled that they can copy any weapon,” he says.

But, the military has cracked down on extremism, particularly in tribal areas. Every second shop in Darra now sells groceries or electronics. The Wild West atmosphere is fading as the town embraces modern conveniences. — AFP