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Human Development Promotion Group |
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| Small Arms Eradication Campaign -- Hepatitis Campaign | ||||||
| Small Arms Eradication Campaign:
The human security, especially in South Asia, is more threatened by proliferation of small arms and light weapons than the risk of nuclear war. The situation in Afghanistan since the Russian invasion and the prolonged war has had a major impact on the arms situation in Pakistan. In some tribal areas manufacturing of arms is like cottage industry and is a main source of income for the local communities. These weapons are easily available in local markets and are also transferred to other parts of South Asia by various private arms dealers and non-state actors. Great efforts are needed to insure socio-economic development of the people of these areas by providing them with other alternative means of livelihood like Agriculture, Forestry, Micro industries etc. 
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is considered to be one of the main sources of arms concentration in Pakistan, especially in the tribal areas adjoining Afghanistan. The fallout of Pakistan's indulgence in Afghanistan portended disaster. First there were inflows of weapons from Afghanistan during the '90s. Pakistan was used as a conduit to transport the US and other Western weapons to Afghanistan. Weapons spilled over which simply meant indiscrete weaponisation of our society.
It encouraged what has been termed as Kalashnkove (AK-47 rifle) culture. It become endemic in Pakistan's society during the Afghan and post-Afghan war period. Second, the armed power of all groups involved in Kashmir's war of independence expands with greater public and official acceptance. These groups had their local political agendas that fuelled sectarianism through violent means. They consider use of arms legitimate to settle sectarian issues. During the '90s, intra-ethnic and political conflicts took a heavy toll in urban Sindh. It also affected rural Sindh and there were inter-and intra-ethnic conflicts to which the governments at provincial and federal levels became a party. These conflicts were an open challenge to the state authority. No one exactly knows the extent of the weapons proliferation in our society. The number could be in millions, which ranged from a wide variety of handguns to assault weapons such as M16s and G-3s and light weapons like rocket propelled grenade launchers (RPGs) mortars and recoilless rifles. The dilemma of deweaponising the society is much more complex than one can imagine. Small Arms & Tribal Areas The FATA region of Pakistan has a long tradition of being a society where possession of arms has been, and is still being considered a token of bravery and honor. This area also has decades old tradition of manufacturing small arms and a home of illegal traders. Almost every family in this area is directly or indirectly dependent on arms manufacturing for their livelihood. The Soviet Afghan war introduced a whole new range of the latest and most sophisticated weapons. Light arms like AK47 assault rifles. Russian and Chinese handguns and even landmines became items easily available from the local market. The situation has further deteriorated since then. 
With the improvement of technology and availability of sophisticated production machines and also with the improvement in technical know-how of the technicians working in the small scale factories, the quality of small arms and light weapons improved to a degree that the arms manufacturing experts at national and international level have acknowledged and praised the quality of arms and light weapons produced here. Another important feature worth mentioning is their gradual skill development; whereas in the past they were capable of producing only low-technology small weapons, now they have built the capacity to manufacture sophisticated war machinery of various sorts from bullets and pistols to light artillery and rocket launchers.
These areas are also the center of criminal activities like drug trafficking, production of arms and other illegal activities. As far as small arms and light weapons are concerned, it is worth mentioning to name here "Dara Adam Khel" a distinct region of Khyber Agency, where various type of sophisticated weapons are available. This area including other tribal areas are considered to be one of the largest private arms producing and trading areas of South Asia. The overall goal of the campaign is to eliminate small arms for sustainable human security and development.
One to the main reason behind the huge amount of militants groups in Pakistan is the prevalence of small arms in the society. In the tribal areas as well as in the settled localities, everyone is armed with some sort of light weapons. The existence of these arms have led to the formation of militant groups, fighting among themselves resulting in sectarian violence and chaos in the society. Such militant groups serve the interests of various organizations and thus threaten human security. The vast network of these militants groups is involved in the illicit trade of small arms.In the recent war on terrorism and the subsequent attacks on Afghanistan to destroy Al-Qaida network and secure universal aspiration of sustainable peace and security, the extremist armed with small arms crossed the porous border of Pakistan and entered Afghanistan to engage alongside with Al-Qaida against the giant allied forces. Most of the militants groups were from the tribal areas as they have sophisticated small arms. Thus, they declared Jihad (Holly war) in the name of Islam and a number of innocent people were killed, maimed or detained by the allied forces. Similarly, different Mujahiddin groups are active in Kashmir alongside freedom fighters. Thus these small arms are causing big trouble and are frequently used in terrorist activities both inside the country as well as for international terrorism. In the tribal society, the existence of small arms is a source of frequent violence and crimes. These are frequently used in robberies, honor killings, murders, kidnapping and other personal rivalries and rivalries among different tribes. Development initiatives are greatly restricted in these areas because of the security situation. Lack of infrastructure, health and education facilities, employment opportunities and abject poverty of the people are greatly due to the presence of small arms in tribal society. In order to bring peace & security, it is high time to conduct research on small arms and organize various conferences, seminars, walks and workshops for mass awareness and advocacy. Such activities will provide a sound base to expand the scope of these activities throughout the South Asia. Hepatitis Campaign The health initiatives of HDPG have been focussing on Hepatitis as the problem is spreading on an alarming rate in the target areas. For this purpose the organization conducted a survey in NWF provinceand the data collected revealed that 95% of the population have no idea about this fatal disease. The estimated figure given by different health agencies shows a carrier rate of 10% for this deadly disease. It is believed that if proper screening is conducted in the areas, the figure will be higher due to poor sanitation and lack of awareness about the disease. HDPG has succeeded to launch one-month hepatitis campaign in District Charsadda. During this campaign HDPG arranged several rallies and displayed banners in different parts of district to aware the local people against this deadly disease. |