GUJRANWALA is famous for making engineering goods like fans, washing machines and other household appliances. The artisans here have great prowess in replicating gadgets with the help of simple machines and tools.

Recently, I learnt about another product of its ingenuity – bullet-proof vehicles. As shown on the TV, the FIA raided some workshops and arrested their owners for illegally converting ordinary vehicles into bullet-proof ones.

It is a revelation for me that doing so requires a licence from home department. Those arrested were simple people, not very educated.

The targeted killings and terrorist acts over the years have spurred the demand for bullet-proof vehicles. And what was, thus far, a necessity for those at high risk is fast becoming a status symbol.

That bullet-proof vehicles are very expensive is known to all and sundry. Therefore it is only the rich that can afford these vehicles.

Necessity being the mother of invention, the Gujranwala artisans produced a cheap version of the expensive, imported bullet-proof vehicles to meet the growing demand.

Mohammad Samiullah
Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2014