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Pakistan's arms industry aims
high
By Nadeem Iqbal
ISLAMABAD - After attaining self-sufficiency in
weapons manufacture and subsequently exporting surplus
production, Pakistan has embarked on a program to
capture at least a 1 percent share of the global arms
market by 2007.
The government hopes to achieve
this by promoting greater private sector participation
in arms production, dual-purpose manufacture of weapons
for civilian and military use, and by incorporating the
cottage arms industry operating in the semi-autonomous
tribal belt bordering Afghanistan in the northwest
border region.
Pakistan's export income from
arms and ammunition is expected to reach US$80-90
million this year, or double its level two years ago,
largely from sales to developing countries, according to
officials of the Defense Export Promotion Organization.
With its export push, they hope to hit $250 million from
weapons sales in five years.
Military planners
say that the government's plan to increase arms exports
is "pragmatic" as the country needs foreign exchange to
service its crippling external debt of $33 billion, and
to support defense spending, which accounts for a major
slice of the national budget.
According to a
recent World Bank report, Pakistan's defense expenditure
is 29 percent of gross domestic product, which it
described as "very high" by international standards.
Commenting on the report, a finance ministry spokesman
said that defense spending was 18.6 percent of the
2001-02 budget, and 16.5 percent of the 2002-03 capital
outlay. Defense spending has always drawn on a large
portion of Pakistan's budget because of its fragile
security situation with neighbor India.
As a
major plank of its export plan, Islamabad is eyeing big
military spenders in the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates, which have annual defense
budgets of about $17 billion and $3.7 billion,
respectively. Other potential markets include Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and some Central Asian
Republics.
At present, the United States is the
biggest seller of weapons in the international arms
market, accounting for almost half of the of global
market, which is valued at $25 billion. Other major
producers are Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
Pakistan's Deputy Army Chief General Mohammad
Yousaf says that after attaining self-reliance in
defense weapons production, Islamabad has slowly tapped
the export market through the sale of its surplus
production to other countries. He says that
Western-imposed sanctions against Pakistan had helped
the country achieve self-reliance in defense equipment
production. Experts say that the development of an
indigenous weapons capability was also a response to the
monopolistic control exerted by global weapons
suppliers.
The US arms embargo imposed on
Pakistan during the 1965 war with India, and again in
1990 after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from
Afghanistan, prompted Islamabad to move towards
self-reliance in weapons production and develop a
capability that would render it independent on foreign
sources of supply.
Since then it has been
developing its indigenous weapons production capability,
progressing from the manufacture of infantry equipment
and ammunition to the overhaul and rebuilding of
aircraft, tanks, radar equipment, naval vessels and
missiles.
Few, however, are convinced of the
government's claims of self-reliance. Dr Ayesha Siddiqa
Agha, a defense analyst, says, "Like other less
industrialized countries, Pakistan falls into the
category of third-tier defense manufacturer with a total
production of around $1 billion."
Ayesha, who is
the author of the book Pakistan's Arms Procurement
And Military Build-up 1979-99 - In Search of Policy,
said that the country did not have full capacity to
manufacture weapons across a broad spectrum. Rather,
Pakistan's defense production capacity was dependent on
first or second-tier manufacturers, Ayesha said.
Major weapons are mostly produced under license
from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) with limited
indigenous components. Pakistan's capability to carry
out modifications on weapons systems was also limited,
she said.
"It is still dependent upon French and
Chinese OEMs for sensitive technologies and strategic
materials to overhaul and assemble a weapons system. For
instance, it is the French that supply essential
components for the upgrade and overhaul of the Mirage
aircraft or assembly of Agosta submarines and mine
hunters. The same is the case with the Chinese
equipment," she said. Ayesha added that she was not
optimistic that Pakistan could enhance its export market
at current production levels, saying that the need was
for public-private partnership. Pakistan was unable to
manufacture sophisticated weapon systems, which were
cheaper to import than if they were made indigenously,
she pointed out.
Naveed Rehman, one of the
organizers of last month's international defense
exhibition in Karachi, said that the arms industry
incorporated about 10,000 craftsmen working in the small
arms cottage industry in tribal areas bordering
Afghanistan. He said that the industry was mainly geared
to meeting the demands of local markets, producing
pump-action shot guns and copies of Russian Kalashnikov
submachine guns, Tokarev pistols and related ammunition.
Rejecting official claims, Ayesha said that the
government had only in fact brought in about 50
craftsmen into public sector manufacturing, which, she
said, was not significant.
But Maria Sultan, a
researcher working with the Institute of Strategic
Studies, welcomed the fact that Pakistan was trying to
put its domestic arms industry on the international map.
Efforts to increase arms manufacturing offer initiatives
and multiplier effects to the people involved in the
defense industry, she said, adding that an
institutionalized approach towards research and
development in the defense industry would further
upgrade defense products to international standards.
(Inter Press Service)
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