The move by the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) is paying dividends, officials say, pointing to the slowing of production in the multi-million dollar Darra Adam Khel arms bazaar, near the North West Frontier Province capital Peshawar and close to the Afghan border.

"So far, we have brought in around 100 top quality 'artisans' to the complex. Their absence (from Darra Adam Khel) and their presence here is certainly making a big difference," POF chairman Lieutenent General Abdul Qayyum told AFP.

Picked up from some 300 workshops operating in the tribal belt, they are employed at POF, a cluster of 14 factories 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Islamabad that make up Pakistan's key arms manufacturing complex.

Tribesmen admit that the POF recruitment scheme had slowed arms production in their home region.

"Many people are losing jobs," said Mohammad Waqas Afridi, who specialises in assembling crude replicas of the Russian Kalashnikov assault rifle AK-47, popular among tribesmen in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The arms trade in Darra Adam Khel played a key role during the 1979-89 war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and the subsequent civil war among rival mujahedin groups.

The bazaar, known for its cheap weapons, provided rocket launchers, hand grenades and even anti-aircraft guns to the Afghan guerrillas.

Arms manufacturing has become a cottage industry in the area, where tribesmen brandish rocket launchers and AK-47S with pride.

But the unchecked production in the semi-autonomous region poses a danger for the government, as the weapons fall into private hands.

The rise of "Kalashnikov culture" and religious militancy forced the government to launch a de-weaponisation campaign in June 2001. It stepped up border vigilance to curb trafficking of weapons as Pakistan joined the US-led war against terrorism after the September 11 2001 terror attacks in the US.

"Before the war, business was good and I used to make around 7,000 rupees (about 120 dollars) a month. Here I get 4,000 rupees, but with free medical facilities and other amenities, its OK," said Afridi, 21, who worked for five years in one of Darra Adam Khel's factories before moving to POF last year.

But his colleague Haji Noor is unhappy the money offered to him does not match his skills.

"Wages here are small. I used to earn 10,000 rupees (172 dollars) a month there. Here I hardly make 4,000 to 5,000 rupees. Im thinking of going back," said Noor, 28.

Qayyum said luring the tribal arms makers to POF was not easy.

"But our incentives and their sense of responsibility prevailed," he told AFP. "Now we are focusing on bringing the best of them here."

However the general conceded that the small wages offered by POF cannot totally wipe out the illegal weapons scourge.

"POF alone is not enough to rid the country of illegal arms. There is a strong need for private sector participation."

During the de-weaponization drive more than 200,000 illegal weapons were recovered nationwide, Interior Ministry spokesman Iftikhar Ahmed said.

Local media said some two million weapons were officially registered, but Pakistan is believed to be awash with several million undeclared weapons.

WAR.WIRE