Is IDEAS Arms for Peace Really Worth It?
The nature of profession I am into, Ideas is the main event for our organization and so I happen to be very much active part of the event. Even though a lot went and happened during the event the first thing that caught my attention was the phrase "Arms for Peace". Since then I have been wondering how arms are used for peace.
A little bit of history thanks to Google tells that arms were made by human to defend themselves against wilderness and later when they learned to exercise the weapons on their own kind, it is a question if it was used for peace ever? In a city where the event took place arms have mostly been used to kill the people who believe in peace rather than on those who do not deserve to remain in peace. Oh well lots into my mind but I will stick to the Ideas.
Even though I might sound like a critic I am not one, really, after all it's a favourable event for the type of services my profession of simulators offer.
Area was secured days before exhibition and hell broke loose on the event organizers as they had to facilitate the mass machinery moving in. It was not just any machinery in other events; we are talking about tanks, aircraft, trucks, weaponry and a lot lot more. Organizers had to also face irritating people like me who were more concerned about how to bring in guests and facilitate our staff cars during the event.
Well organizers were kind enough to at least tell us that as a private firm we may not be given passes and we must come through respective army set-up to get passes. As many believe, it is easier for army men to get things done and they did so. Now we had our passes, guest passes and stickers for our cars. Day and night, 3 days before the event a lot was happening in the expo premises. Army guards were constantly moving around in the area and were checking equipment, keeping in mind the threats on the army.
What I guess was either ignored or intensely monitored there was tons of volatile and flammable material such as adhesives and chemicals which could have been used only inside the premises to make a bomb. All insurgents could have done was get one men in and that would have been enough to create situation nearly as grievous as wrath.
So perhaps the security was very very tight and intelligence must have been on top of the event, if so, I wonder why they then fail to protect citizens of the city? Perhaps citizens are like the wall in which many special ones hide and take refuge.
So the event kicked off and went on smooth for five days. It was visited by high government officials, top military brass, and business community and also to some extent the common citizen of Karachi.
Now the vehicle I was travelling in had Ideas parking sticker and my personal pass thus making me invincible for the police of the city. At times to such level of special treatment that I received salute by black uniformed men while travelling over head bridge which was closed for general public. I was sorry for the suffering of other fellow citizens which they were facing. All roads connecting expo were closed which meant diverting traffic to other routes. Karachi already has many traffic issues to cater to and then Ideas happened.
Each day with the pass, it was easier to get through checking area and then catching a shuttle to travel to expo centre. One of the days a colleague of mine who did not have the pass but had a visitor form and we had to wait for registration procedure. Next I state the painful things which happened during the procedure.
One had to go to NADRA counter for NIC clearance. There was only one counter dedicated to NADRA which meant a long queue. Then there were registration counters which immediately issued a visiting pass.
The painful part in this procedure was "Parchi". Many uniformed men and people claiming to be from intelligence agencies bypassed line while the public had to wait. It was situation on both NADRA and registration counters. At one of the registration counter we had waited for almost 15 visiting passes to be issued (off the line) though we were the first in line. Upon protest the head person misbehaved and even threatened to kick us out of the exhibition.
Unwanted we had to change skins and had to hit back at him with the organization we were representing. Well in our country Sub chalta hai phrase works that's what his other partners said. Shuttle service was great and so was parking area.
Checking by Khakhi uniformed men was very organized and disciplined with very less or no questions.
Once one entered the exhibition there were tanks, armoured vehicle, missile models, JF17 aircraft and drone models to welcome you. An amazing site, specially, seeing the development that our country has done in the military sector. People were full of enthusiasm and one could see number of cameras and people with the actually army equipment. Adults to children all were enjoying the site of mighty Al-Khalid tank and JF-17 thunder aircraft.
Halls of the expo were full of uniformed men and their families along with few representatives of contractors also with their families. Very disciplined and organized. One could clearly see all young men and women having a photo with guns and pistols displayed on different stalls. A long range Schmidth rifle seemed to lure many participants. The tall white skinned representative of the company displaying that rifle had a friendly attitude and then we know our people how they act jub koi dheel dey dey lol.
Another site was that the public were attentive to a white lady wearing saari and I could clearly see she had all the attention from the crowds. Many ladies would stop her and compliment her others oh well might be jealous. Let's stick to the topic, so China and Turkey seemed to have huge representation and displayed what the two countries are involved in.
There was representation of Ukraine, Russia and several other countries. Hall 6 turned to be centre of attraction since there were some Pakistani developed equipment. People seemed to enjoy the exhibition and many were interested in operating equipment such as simulators, rifles and guns. Organizers must have things very coordinated since not much panic was seen in the days of expo.
Finally, Sunday, the Ideas event was wrapped up and I am sure many must have thanked Lord since their life was affected due to event.
I was fortunate to be part of Ideas 2008 as well and for me 2012 was not as good but that's just my opinion. It was seen on the advertisement board that Ideas 2014 has been planned from 1-5 Dec.
Is Ideas really worth it? Let us not forget few things here. The road connecting expo centre is a busy area and houses business areas and markets which are also seen busy throughout the year. The congestion caused by diversion of traffic must have created financial loss to other areas. People living in the area seemed affected as well. In a city, where we need security to wipe out crime, we were using security to secure one little area and of course the protocol travelling with Govt. officials.
In terms of finances, the event seemed huge, the cost and risk of bringing the actually equipment to the expo centre must have been high. Army spends from income generated through taxes of general public or through loan that country takes which again has to be paid by public. Would army gather enough orders through this display that it can recover the cost of entire event? I hope someone could answer it. Let's all take the loss of people who had shops and businesses around the forbidden area.
I am happy that our country has ability to launch an event like Ideas and its good for our image but it's a request that take these events to places where it does not affect common men.
Still to me the phrase "Arms for Peace" brings a broad smile. army www.pakpositive.com