weapons is a highly politicized issue, yet post 9/11, we find the US as the main global actor choosing at will actors with whom to engage. Unfortunately, the developments in the region have not been entirely favorable to the Darra manufacturers, and in this recent Talibanization drive, their source of livelihood has also suffered greatly. Although it is the demand and not the supply that governs market sentiment, yet to minimize the lethality of conflict, and save a highly skilled segment of our population from starvation and despondency, the government must engage the Darra manufacturers into better as well as alternative vocation plans. The government must also not follow an appeasement policy with regards the post 9/11 American engagement in the region. We need to be collectively more proactive in identifying the alien actors involved in destabilizing the country and carry out a much more vigilant and stringent policy to better ensure law and order which by itself is an uphill task. With internal conflicts becoming an unfortunate norm in the contemporary scenario, the need is to take a holistic approach towards solving the problem. The situation is extremely precarious for a country specially like Pakistan, which not only has a demand generated due to insurgencies, failing law and order, politically backed violence at the internal level, but also border conflict zone such as Afghanistan. The few necessary steps range from having a well articulated policy which will address the core issues and have a follow-up mechanism, alternate support schemes which are difficult to implement, owing to the dire economic conditions that are in turn affected by weakening security, law and order situation. The policy should also have mechanisms to check and plug financing sources of insurgents and terrorists, as with stringent global money laundering regulations, since militant organizations have started to indulge in kidnapping for ransom, trafficking etc. For this purpose, all countries affected and concerned, instead of playing a blame game, must take stringent internal as well as regional to global actions and implement them completely. There is a need for stronger border control, for which the role and personnel reliability of border security forces is most important. Incidents such as those at the PNS Mehran in Karachi, GHQ in Rawalpindi, police academy at Manawaan Lahore or storming of military barracks are a proof that not only does the security apparatus need to carry out an internal review and appraisal, but also fortify its physical defenses. Furthermore, radical reforms for the security sector are required, and they must not be held victim to the whims of interest groups, who for narrow parochial interests put the entire country's security at risk. The reforms would also entail better training, better equipment and accountability of the security personnel, so that incidents such as extra judicial killing of high profile political personalities by personal guards, or those of innocent people, can be prevented and checked. Finally, anti-gun legislation needs to be owned and put forth by political and civil society members, along with educating people about the insidious effects of SALW, rather than glorifying them as cultural or religious artifacts. Salma Malik is an assistant professor at the Defense and Strategic Studies Department at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
96