“Weaponisation” as a negative concept was something to which I was completely unfamiliar while growing up. Though I spent most of my childhood in Lahore, my rural, agricultural background meant arms had always been a regular presence in my life. I had learnt to fire, load/unload and clean them as a child. It was an unquestionable truth in my environment that guns were integral to our protection and our status. Though in hindsight, I find it ironic that I was taught to handle weapons but I was never allowed to own them because of my gender.
It was only after I met an anti-arms activist for the first time after my teens, that I was introduced to the menace this “weaponisation” had become in our country. Years down the road, I am now able to recognise and identify the menace of weaponisation of Pakistani society and its adverse effects on us. It’s everywhere: the display and use of personal weapons.
Whether it is the blood-soaked days of Karachi, extra-judicial killings in Islamabad, or pompous display of weapons in rural areas, the presence of “small arms and light weapons” (SALW) is overwhelming. Anti-gun campaigners claim that Pakistan has one of the greatest per capita rate of gun ownership in the world.
Though the UN does not have an official definition of the term, the body has come close to defining it in 2005: “Small arms” are, broadly speaking, weapons designed for individual use. They include, inter alia, revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.
In Pakistan, the infiltration of SALW increased manifold with the Afghan-Soviet war during the 1980s. In addition to importing SALW, these weapons were also readily manufactured and available in the northern areas of the country including the infamous Darra Adam Khel and Landi Kotal in FATA. Darra Adam Khel had been a hub of local arms manufacturing for better part of 20th century but its cult and legendary status increased as Pakistan became the centre spot for fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan.
After the end of the Afghan war, though there was decrease in demand of these arms, Darra’s business did not dwindle to any substantial extent. The reason unfortunately was the repeated crisis which engulfed this region of South Asia: the civil war in Afghanistan, the insurgency in Kashmir, the violent 90s in Karachi, post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, subsequent rampant militancy and politically backed ethnic rifts in Pakistan.
Although there had been various de-weaponisation drives in the country, the government of Pakistan launched an ambitious de-weaponisation campaign in 2000 which continued for roughly a couple of years. The campaign was divided in three stages, where first of all people were encouraged to register their arms; then they were required to surrender illegal weapons in their possession and; finally a massive crackdown was launched for recovery of remaining illegal weapons. Though this campaign received accolades across the globe, its result was similar to almost every prior government initiative; it fell victim to petty politicking and lack of follow-up procedures of accountability.
Besides deweaponisation campaigns, the government also tried to regularise arms manufacturing in Darra by giving the arms producers an opportunity to work in state-run ordnance factories. However, the monetary compensation offered to them was so low that many workers left the programme and others were reluctant to join at all.
It is important to note though that the infiltration of illegal SALW in Pakistan is a result of not only weapons manufactured in Darra Adam Khel and Landi Kotal but also of cross-border smuggling and a surplus of older weapons in the market. Russian AK-47 from Afghan War are still available in the market.
However, in addition to the overwhelming presence of these weapons in Pakistan, what is most disturbing is the acceptance of these weapons—legal or illegal—in our society. It is considered perfectly normal to own weapons, and in the patriarchal sphere, it even helps raise the status and power of the gun owner. There is not nearly enough information available to people about the damage such rampant ownership causes.
If a person like me struggled for years in giving credence to the view opposing weaponisation of the society, I can only imagine what an uphill task it must be for the government to convince those for whom arms define their status. The dismal security situation, tethered justice system and the writ of the state continually being challenged from north to south, all add up to the surfeit of problems which needs to be simultaneously addressed if we want any hope of combating the weaponisation of our society. We cannot expect people to stop carrying arms when the state fails to provide ample security to their lives and assets.
Lastly, our public education has got to stop valourising weapons and armed jihad in its text books. My personal experience is enough to tell me that the best strategy for any ideological formation is always to target the young minds. A good portion of our battle will be won if we can get the next generation to cherish peace and tolerance instead of finding heroes among gun-toting terrorists.
Published first on Dawn.com blogs (21 July 2011).
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