He originally aspired to be a poet but went in another direction after joining the military in 1938. Born in 1919, Mikhail Kalashnikov grew up in a large peasant family in the small town of Izhevsk of Soviet Union.
He died at 94 just over a year before Cherif Kovachi and his brother Said Kouachi gunned down the staff of Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris. Amongst other arms, they used the famous fail-safe Kalashnikov assault rifles, designed by General Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Kalashnikov was very pained witnessing his invention, AK 47, being used by all hues of insurgents, militants and terrorists around the world. He once said, “I created the weapon to defend the fatherland’s borders. It’s not my fault that it was sometimes used where it shouldn’t have been. It is the fault of the politicians.” On another occasion he said, “It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon.”
Simple to use and cheap to produce, today AK-47 is one of Russia’s most important arms. It is also produced by licensees in some 30 countries. Roughly 100 million Kalashnikovs and variants have been produced since the gun’s initial release. Reliability makes it a favourite of military personnel in over 106 nations. Interestingly, it has made it to the Guinness Book of Records.
The attack on the Charlie Hebdo office and the subsequent outrage across the world—with over 40 world leaders and heads of governments participating in the 3.5 million strong Peace March—raises some fundamental questions.
According to Wikipedia, “The total value of the global arms market is estimated around $60 billion a year.” No case can be made out that these legal and illegal arms are being manufactured and traded from Mars or the moon.
Some of nations, whose leaders very solemnly participated in the Peace March, are active in this high-profit trade. Some economies are surviving on it. How then can they believe the arms manufactured and traded in their territories will not be used by religious bigots elsewhere?
Kalashnikov was not very wrong in saying that, “…It is the fault of the politicians”.
If every army of every country needs to use weapons to safeguard their borders, is it not possible for the governments to regulate the manufacturing industry to make sure there are no illegal manufacturers? Is it not possible for these politicians to make sure that militant groups are starved of weapons? Is it not possible for these politicians to make sure at least the ammunition for illegally floating Kalashnikov assault rifles is not available? As always, it is the question of political will, of illicit monies sustaining the economies, of global political hypocrisy.
Death of a dear one is a very painful experience, especially when it is untimely. It is more painful when one realises that the death of innocent civilians is for petty religious belief.
It is certainly more painful when one comes to know that those political masters, who condemn violence and participate in peace marches, are the ones who keep a poker face when it comes to discussing conflict at the high table. They already know the result. Wittingly or unwittingly they are part of the Business of Death.