Marwat Khan Lodhi
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Across India and Pakistan, most people are talking of little but nuclear weapons. But here along Pakistan's rugged northern frontier, the weapons of choice are still old-fashioned.
Peshawar has for centuries been home to an extraordinary community of gunsmiths. With skills handed down through generations, they say they are able to make exact duplicates of any weapon they can lay their hands on.
Generations of brigands, guerrillas and tribal warriors have bought their weapons here. Not coincidentally, people who live in the surrounding mountains are among the most heavily armed in the world.
''Atomic bomb?'' one gunsmith mused quite seriously as he stroked his beard on a recent afternoon. ''I couldn't build one without the uranium. But get me a pouch of uranium and a blueprint, and I'll make you one better than any in India.''
In bazaars and along roads leading north toward the Hindu Kush mountains and the foothills of the Himalayas, hundreds of shops offer a dazzling array of firearms.
Some are original, part of the overflow left by conflicts great and small that have shaken this region for longer than anyone here has been alive. Others are identical copies made one at a time by men with primitive but obviously well-suited machine tools.
A brand-new AK-47, the legendary assault rifle favored by insurgents around the world, sells for $220 if it comes from a Chinese or Russian factory, half that if it is locally made.Other favorite items range from a five-shot pistol that can be concealed in a palm and sells for$12 to an original M-16, the standard-issue assault rifle of the United States Army, priced at $565. For the truly ambitious, there are rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and high-caliber machine guns powerful enough to blow a hole through a thick tree trunk at 50paces.
Many of the weapons sold here find their way into neighboring Afghanistan, where war has been raging almost continually for more than two decades and seems unlikely to end soon. Others are bought by the smugglers, drug dealers and arms traffickers who are the biggest winners in such conflicts.
The most regular customers, however, are Pathan tribesmen. Vendettas and blood feuds are a way of life for many Pathans, and a male Pathan villager without a weapon might as well be naked. ''To a Pathan a gun is like jewelry,'' said a dealer who sells handmade leather holsters and bandoleers. ''It's their culture. They don't need bread, but they need guns.''
Gun vendors are only part of the dazzling carnival that is modern Peshawar (pronounced puh-SHAH-wur). Its bazaars are more authenticand tumultuous than those of Cairo and Istanbul, which tourists have already discovered.
It is exceedingly rare to see a European face among the medicinalherbs, fox and mountain lion pelts, peacock feathers, melons, nuts, teasand countless other products that spill out into the twisting alleys.
Heroin is sold in more than a few back rooms.
No one knows how many people live in Peshawar. A decade ago there were said to be 300,000, but so many Afghan refugees have arrived since then that the number might now be twice that.
Many people here are encouraged by the progress of the militantly Islamic Taliban army in Afghanistan, not necessarily because they share its religious fanaticism but because they hope its final victory might bring at least a temporary peace.
''War in Afghanistan brings us three gifts: guns, drugs and refugees,'' said Gulu Itashim, who deals in lapislazuli and other gems. ''Anything that pacifies Afghanistan is good.''
If a Firearm Is a Jewel, Peshawar Is Gem Row - NYTimes.com
Peshawar has for centuries been home to an extraordinary community of gunsmiths. With skills handed down through generations, they say they are able to make exact duplicates of any weapon they can lay their hands on.
Generations of brigands, guerrillas and tribal warriors have bought their weapons here. Not coincidentally, people who live in the surrounding mountains are among the most heavily armed in the world.
''Atomic bomb?'' one gunsmith mused quite seriously as he stroked his beard on a recent afternoon. ''I couldn't build one without the uranium. But get me a pouch of uranium and a blueprint, and I'll make you one better than any in India.''
In bazaars and along roads leading north toward the Hindu Kush mountains and the foothills of the Himalayas, hundreds of shops offer a dazzling array of firearms.
Some are original, part of the overflow left by conflicts great and small that have shaken this region for longer than anyone here has been alive. Others are identical copies made one at a time by men with primitive but obviously well-suited machine tools.
A brand-new AK-47, the legendary assault rifle favored by insurgents around the world, sells for $220 if it comes from a Chinese or Russian factory, half that if it is locally made.Other favorite items range from a five-shot pistol that can be concealed in a palm and sells for$12 to an original M-16, the standard-issue assault rifle of the United States Army, priced at $565. For the truly ambitious, there are rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and high-caliber machine guns powerful enough to blow a hole through a thick tree trunk at 50paces.
Many of the weapons sold here find their way into neighboring Afghanistan, where war has been raging almost continually for more than two decades and seems unlikely to end soon. Others are bought by the smugglers, drug dealers and arms traffickers who are the biggest winners in such conflicts.
The most regular customers, however, are Pathan tribesmen. Vendettas and blood feuds are a way of life for many Pathans, and a male Pathan villager without a weapon might as well be naked. ''To a Pathan a gun is like jewelry,'' said a dealer who sells handmade leather holsters and bandoleers. ''It's their culture. They don't need bread, but they need guns.''
Gun vendors are only part of the dazzling carnival that is modern Peshawar (pronounced puh-SHAH-wur). Its bazaars are more authenticand tumultuous than those of Cairo and Istanbul, which tourists have already discovered.
It is exceedingly rare to see a European face among the medicinalherbs, fox and mountain lion pelts, peacock feathers, melons, nuts, teasand countless other products that spill out into the twisting alleys.
Heroin is sold in more than a few back rooms.
No one knows how many people live in Peshawar. A decade ago there were said to be 300,000, but so many Afghan refugees have arrived since then that the number might now be twice that.
Many people here are encouraged by the progress of the militantly Islamic Taliban army in Afghanistan, not necessarily because they share its religious fanaticism but because they hope its final victory might bring at least a temporary peace.
''War in Afghanistan brings us three gifts: guns, drugs and refugees,'' said Gulu Itashim, who deals in lapislazuli and other gems. ''Anything that pacifies Afghanistan is good.''
If a Firearm Is a Jewel, Peshawar Is Gem Row - NYTimes.com
