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Special to the tribune Shyam Bhatia in London Until it was forced to close down early (on Friday), Pakistan had the most-sought-after stand at this year's international arms fair in London where 49 countries and more than 1,000 weapons manufacturers have been displaying their lethal wares.
The Tribune has been given to understand that Pakistanis were penalised by exhibition organisers for publicising the manufacture of cluster bomblets that are forbidden under UK law. A spokesman for the exhibition explained, “We have very strict laws in the UK about what kind of exhibits can be shown here. If exhibitors infringe UK law, we close their stand.” He said, “The Pakistan Ordnance Factory stand and Pakistan’s Defence Export Promotion Organisation pavilion have both been permanently shut after promotional material was found on both containing references to equipment, which after close examination, was found to breach UK Government export controls and our own contractual requirements. “We are currently investigating how this breach of our compliance system occurred. However, we believe that the immediate action we have taken highlights our commitment to ensuring that all equipment, services, promotional material, documentation and anything else on display complies with domestic and international law.” Gold-plated gifts Earlier in the week, arms specialists from Islamabad were also showcasing other defence items like fashion body armour, another way of describing leather jackets and waistcoats with reinforced linings. More deadly items, such as nuclear weapons parts, which used to be available to the highest bidder, were missing. They have remained off limits ever since the US pressurised the Pakistani authorities to arrest the notorious nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan. What was left for interested buyers visiting the Pakistan stand at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition were relatively “harmless” artillery shells although these were easily overshadowed by the ‘piece-de-resistance’ represented by gold-plated sub-machine guns manufactured under licence from German weapons manufacturer Heckler&Koch. A spokesman for Heckler&Koch explained how sometime in the past - in the 1970s - the German Government granted Pakistan a licence to manufacture the 9mm weapon that has a range of 30-40m. Each one of the gold-plated variety is available for a mere £10,000 (approximately Rs 7.5 lakh) and their most eager customers, according to Pakistani defence salesmen before they were forced to shut down their stand, inevitably are Arab princes from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states who want something a little different to give as presents to their friends and relatives. These princes, in turn, got the idea of gold-plated weapons from the late Saddam Hussein who started a trend back in the 1980s by gifting gold-plated pistols and Kalashnikovs to friends and allies in his own country and the rest of West Asia. Although the defence value of such weapons is questionable - the consensus at the exhibition is that they are prestige/ceremonial items for display - they easily outshone more standard items of warfare on show from other countries. The nearest popular rival to the Pakistanis before they withdrew was the so-called invisible tank made by the UK’s BAE System. It is described as invisible because of its ability to create a false thermal image of a van or a truck for an enemy wearing night-vision goggles. The Indian stall
India is also visible at the arms fair, although its presence is less obtrusive. The Defence Research Development Organisation has been exhibiting models of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), recently ordered by the IAF, as well as the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that has attracted attention from Oman and South Korea. Buyers from Slovakia have expressed interest in India’s armoured personnel carrier (BMP2K). Private companies selling wares to countries like Egypt have also shown interest in India’s small calibre ammunition and the 7.62 medium machine gun. Tata Steel, which is separately represented, is involved in an extremely interesting project to produce under licence an ultra-hardened steel called super bainite that can be used for a new type of body armour. The British Ministry of Defence wants super bainite to be manufactured at Tata’s plant at Port Talbot in Wales.
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But popular interest in Islamabad’s flamboyant display of gold-plated sub-machine guns could not prevent the Pakistanis from being kicked out on Friday for “infringement” reasons from the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition.