Month: September 2020

Would you buy a “made in Pakistan” weapon?

If someone was to ask me this question, I would say, short answer “no” and long answer “yes”. The short answer No is something I have been writing about for a long long time now when I write about guns, that is. The reasons are simple and basic, and its not about the cost, its about your own safety, and more importantly about your life. A weapon that is a copy of some famous known brand, like Glock, Beretta or some Turkish Zigana, is made of God knows what material, has not passed the quality control checks except for firing it once with half a magazine and thence declaring it a “Go” is not a standard that could in any way rate a weapon as reliable or safe. In fact both Darra and Kohat road Industrial Continue reading Would you buy a “made in Pakistan” weapon?

Ban on Commercial Import of Weapons Lifted in Pakistan

Hi there. So the news is that Government of Pakistan has lifted ban imposed by the previous Government on Commercial import of weapons and ammo. This comes at a time when the country was in a dire need of this move. The ban that was imposed by the PML(N) government resulted in huge losses to the investors. Actually all the weapons that had already been ordered by the importers were held by Customs since the ban. The Ministry of Commerce and Textiles wrote to the Customs authorities to deal with the issue on “case to case basis”.  That was very typical of an incompetent bureaucracy which gave this decision in order to absolve themselves of the issue. The Customs on the other hand refused to give way to the importers/investors. As a result of this millions of Rupees worth of weapons and ammo was held up. This resulted in imposition of heavy demurrage charges on the goods. Finally the importers had to go to courts. It took excruciatingly long time for the courts to give verdict in favor of the importers, so as to save them from huge losses. Now the investors have had to pump in more money by paying customs duties and demurrage charges. And the goods will be available in the market but at a higher price, because the investors have had to pay additional money as well as to cover their losses. Anyhow, the new import orders have been placed, and are being placed, so there’s good news coming. I am hopeful the prices will slightly fall, which is required as the supply will resume. So for now gun enthusiasts are sitting fingers crossed. 🙂 Cheers

 

Book Review: Return of a King

Return of a King, is the story of British misadventure in Afghanistan circa 1839 when the British East India Company waddled in to the country with some 20,000 men with the aim of installing Shah Shuja (grandson of Ahmed Shah Abdali) on the throne. It was the time when the term, “The Great Game” was devised between two leading powers of the world, The British Empire and Russia. What followed after that was a series of events more or less like a chain reaction which resulted in the uprising of Afghan people against the British, resulting in their disgraceful ouster. Not many of the 20,000 strong survived as they were targeted in the narrow valleys and passes on their flight form Kabul. Many were killed, some taken prisoners for ransom and others sold in the slave trade market. The book is well researched as always by Dalrymple, and covers the events based on authentic sources, both Afghan and British. It also looks at the reasons for the uprising against the British. Also discussed is the role of Ranjit Singh, Shah Shuja, Dost Muhammad, Akbar Khan, the rivalry between Sadozia and Barakzais, Monstuart Elphinstone, Alecander Burnes, Willaim Macnaghten, George Pollock, Nicholson, Lord Auckland as some of the important figures in this theater.

Continue reading Book Review: Return of a King