The government has planned to establish special industrial zone for private arms manufacturers in the Fata region to get substantial shares in the international market, said senior official of Pakistan Hunting and Sporting Arms Development Company (PH&SADC) here on Thursday.
Talking to Business Recorder in IDEAS-2012, Muhammad Shaheed Khan, product Developer, PH&SADC said the government has allocated some 120 acres of land at Spinatana located at the entrance of FATA region to establish special industrial zone for private arms manufacturers of FATA and Peshawar. Moreover, he said the PC-I of the project was in progress while the government had granted Rs 2.4 million for the purchase of special industrial equipment.
He said that some 600 private arms manufacturers were presently operating in the region and the government was striving to get all of them enrolled to avert the manufacture of prohibited weapons. Shaheed further said that after prolonged deliberations with private arms manufactures, some 300 private manufacturers have now come into the tax ambit and hoped that the rest of the others would also be registered soon.
He said that after the government provided logistics and financial assistance to these registered private arms manufactures, some 39 arms manufactures have generated US $10.5 million foreign exchange for national exchequer and added that local arms exports have witnessed 39 per cent growth during the last fiscal year.
Replying to a question, he said that the PH&SADC with the aim of securing potential markets is displaying local arms in foreign and local exhibitions and added that these 30 arms exporters are presently sending their products, including 410 single and double barrel guns, 30 bore and 9mm pistols, daggers and others to the United States, United Kingdom, Lebanon and Kuwait.