The shop of Sikandar Hayat Khan on the Ferozpur Road, Lahore is quite visible with big advertisement posters showing a variety of imported arms -- from a pistol to a machine gun. Interestingly, his business card displays more than a dozen small pictures of various arms and ammunition.
"The price of arms ranges from five thousands rupees to hundreds of thousands. It depends on the interest and affordability of the client," says one of the dealers at the shop. "More than 60 per cent visitors of the shop ask for arms. However, arms shop is located in another area while only accessories of different weapons and guns are sold here."
The shop is titled, "Khan electronics and American tool centre" and has a range of tools and arms accessories besides having different type of guns in the main display with the stickers "not for sale." The weapons in display include pistols and machine guns.
"We guide customers about weapons if they are interested in buying," the young salesman says, asking not to be named. "As a Muslim, we believe it is mandatory to have arms training since childhood," he says.
In the shop, there are piles of goods and provisions meant for war. The objective of the sale, according to the dealers, is to give opportunity to the local Muslims to benefit from the enemy’s arms, which the owner terms as "bounties of war".
Among different tools and accessories, there are telescopes for guns, laser-mounted accessories for assault weapons, war fatigues, military shoes, holsters, sharp-edged hunting and combat knives, axes, spy cameras, watches powered with navigation software, night-vision equipment and gas-powered mini-stoves which work at high altitudes. In the low-price labeled cabinet, there are hand grenades, bullets, and gun-shaped cigarette lighters.
In Lahore, more than a dozen shops near Chauburji are busy as dozens of people visit them to buy arms or get information about weapons. "The interest of people, especially youth, has increased in weapons," says Shahab Ahmed, a dealer. "Even schoolteachers and students are coming and getting information about different weapons."