Pakistan arms its tribes with AK-47s

Pakistan arms its tribes with Chinese AK-47s

Pakistani tribal fighters on patrol alongside military in the North West Frontier Province

China has sold tens of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles to Pakistan, where they will be handed out to anti-Taliban tribal fighters in the northern border region. The Washington Post reports that President Asif Ali Zardari secured the deal during a visit to Beijing this month.

The deal has come under criticism from IANSA members in Pakistan, who have pointed out that there are already an estimated 20 million small arms in the country. In the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), an AK-47 can be obtained for as little as $30.

Raza Shah Khan at the Sustainable Peace and Development Organisation (SPADO) in Peshawar said: "SPADO believes this strategy will only further increase insecurity and lawlessness in the area, where millions of existing small arms already facilitate daily robberies, kidnappings and human rights violations. Controlling the destination and circulation of these weapons will be almost impossible. SPADO calls for the government to find a solution based on dialogue and bring about long term stability."

The tribal fighters who will receive the Chinese guns are known as lashkars, and are a key feature of Pakistan’s strategy to battle militants linked with al-Qaida and the Taliban. But critics have pointed out that there is a danger that the lashkars could become personal militias and spawn private armies.

The US has been using the Pakistan northern region as a base to launch attacks against the Taliban militants who fled there from Afghanistan after 11 September 2001. Its presence has been a constant source of tension in the region. This week, on 23 October, a US missile attack hit a religious school in North Waziristan, killing eight students.

Hours before the attack, Pakistan’s parliament passed a unanimous resolution calling on the government to defend its sovereignty and expel foreign fighters from the region. The resolution followed a three week secret session of both houses of parliaments during which parliamentarians called to end the insurgency with dialogue and a 14-point roadmap to curb the militants.