President Arif Alvi on Tuesday while addressing the opening ceremony of the 10th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2018 in Karachi stressed that Pakistan’s weapons are for peaceful intent.
“We want peace, we have been striving for peace in a belligerent neighborhood but we must stay strong,” Alvi said, adding “our weapons are for peaceful intent”.
The exhibition
522 exhibitors from 50 countries are taking part in the exhibition and will be able to showcase their high-quality arms from today to November 30. Besides trade visitors, more than 262 high-level delegations from 51 countries are also visiting the exhibition.
Countries such as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, USA and host Pakistan are all establishing their exclusive country pavilions at the Expo Centre. For the purpose, the organisers have also added three extra exhibition halls in the form of marquees.
The first two days have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and for networking activities. The other highlights include an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare therein from Pakistan’s perspective. Renowned national and international subject matter experts will also present their scholarly papers on the topic.
General public
The Karachi Show has been planned specially for the people of the city at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Seaview, on Nov 29.
In addition, Nov 30, the fourth day of the exhibition will be exclusively reserved for the general public.
“The Karachi Show, as well as the IDEAS exhibition, will be open to those who have taken the trouble to register online. They should also carry their CNICs with them,” Brigadier Waheed Mumtaz had told the media last week
“This is an international event and security of the participants, visitors and guests along with the public, too, cannot be taken lightly,” he had added.
Traffic plan
The traffic plan for the city includes the deployment of 2,300 police personnel and alternative routes to facilitate traveling of the people of Karachi during rush hours.
DIG Traffic East Javed Ali Mahar told the media that Sir Shah Sulaiman Road from the National Stadium Karachi flyover to Hasan Square will be closed for public. Residents of this area though will be allowed to pass through after showing their CNICs.
A map shared by the police shows yellow barriers with brown stripes indicating the areas closed for the general public while the blue barriers with purple stripes show the area from where the heavy traffic will be filtered and diverted to alternative routes.
The open roads have been indicated with green and blue arrows, the stars show where diversions have been created and the blank rectangular boxes show the parking areas from where one can take a shuttle to the Expo Centre.
