Home > Notebook > They Say Brno Brno and They Mean The Guns

In one of the side streets of Quetta was a row of gun shops. And so walked in one to have a look. Its owner, Sarajudim, seemed happy to meet me and we ended up talking for an hour. Of course he knew Czech Republic. ČZ pistols are very good, he said. But he doesn't stock them as they are not popular among locals. They cost the same as Bereta or Glock but those apparently carry more street cred. And who does not have money for the original buys Brazilian or Chinese copy which are cheaper. But he did have few Czech hunting rifles and – quite unsurprisingly – bullets by Sellier & Bellot.

Drinking sweet green tea he went on to explain that to buy a gun in Pakistan you need a license, same like in Europe (Tribal Areas in NWFP being an exception). And the guns are not exactly cheap. Bereta is $2000, Glock $3000. Most of it is import tax (200–300 %). But selling guns is good business anyway, everybody wants one. And it would be even better if the government did something about gun manufacturing and selling in Tribal Areas, complained Sarajudin. Gun merchants lobby for a change, government is promising but does nothing. (The question is if the government can actually do anything about it given the special status of Tribal Areas.)

And the it was politics. USA are bad and Obama is not going to be much better than Bush. The possibility of any change just provoked a knowing smile on Sarajudum's face. It is all about oil, he said. And they are to blame for the trouble in todays Pakistan – they should have not supported Taliban in the eighties when it was fighting against Soviets in Afghanistan. Now it causes trouble in Pakistan too and the army (One of the best in the world) can't do much. The border is long and operating in Tribal Areas is difficult. They do not like the army there and help Taliban instead.

Brits were alright, continued Sarajudin. They built railways, schools, hospitals… Musharaf tries to modernize and moderate the country, improve economy. But that is gargantuan task and many politicians are simply against it.

In the end we talked about travelling. „When I was younger I used to travel a lot,“ went on Sarajudin. „But that is more than ten years now. I have been to Europe, to Paris and to London. I went to Thailand too. I visited Bangkok and Pattaya. But I did not get to the north, to Chiang Mai,“ he was saying kind of dreamy, as if he wanted to fix that.

Peace: And I was told that every day two or three policemen get shot in Quetta. Balochi terrorists are to blame, they want independence. Foreigners are supposedly safe.