This assault rifle is a favourite of Pakistan army

The Ideas 2000 show is intended to launch the country into the arms export market.

More than 40 foreign delegations are due to attend the four-day show, where Pakistan will showcase some of its weapons.

Years of sanctions, under previous military regimes, have made Pakistan largely self-reliant in weapons and now it wants to use this to earn some revenue.

Confidence

At the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Complex, thousands of people produce a huge variety of weapons from the smallest bullets to aircraft bombs.

Assault rifles produced here are one of the army's most effective weapons and one they believe will be popular abroad.

It's a question of demonstrating capability and sovereignty because we would like to go for niche production in export market

Security expert Rifaat Hussain

At the aeronautical complex at Kamra, the ageing fleet of mirage aircraft are overhauled and upgraded. And engineers believe they could carry out the service for other countries.

Military experts say the factories are seriously under-utilised and could double their production if exports pick up.

Pakistan already sells a modest $30m worth of weapons abroad a year but wants to expand this.

Organisers of Ideas 2000 say there is a lot of potential in artillery and ammunition markets, and the exhibition is aimed at tapping this market.

Motivating factors

But Rifaat Hussain, head of the defence and strategic studies department at Qaid-e-Azam University, believes there are several motivating factors for the exhibition.

"Primarily there is an economic motivation, we would like to make extra money from quality," he says. "Then the whole question of demonstrating capability and sovereignty because we have large indigenous production base and we would like to go for niche production in export market."

Pakistan hopes to help its ailing economy through arms exports

But some see the factories as a major drain on resources.

They say even a dramatic rise in exports would only cover a fraction of the defence budget, and want the government to focus on health, education and other social services.

"In a country where the majority of children don't have schools to go to, it's a shame to spend so much on defence," says physics professor Pervez Hoodbahi.

Others see the armaments factories as a necessity to maintain the country's defences. And the authorities believe their products will be in great demand in international markets due to their competitive prices.

The show in Karachi will be an indication of how realistic these hopes really are.