KARACHI, Aug 18: The Sindh government has decided to cancel all arms licences issued over several decades in a bid to streamline and build a computerised database of weapon-owners across the province, and identify those who have acquired fake certificates for guns of various types.
A senior official shared with Dawn the details of the provincial home department’s proposal, which is expected to get the nod at a meeting that is to be held within a week’s time with the Sindh interior minister in the chair. The proposal has already been discussed with relevant quarters and awaits only the formal go-ahead in next week’s meeting. It will require every individual and organisation to follow revised rules about getting licences for their weapons.
“The main objective behind the move is to get the records straightened out, because the old manual system has not left them in a very good condition,” said Arif Ahmed Khan, the Sindh home secretary. “Also, we have noticed the alarming trend of a large number of people with fake licences, and such practices can only be checked when we re-launch the whole process with a more effective system in place.”
According to Mr Khan, the home department will use the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) database for the new formalities proposed in the issuance of arms licences. He added that the proposal was prepared after months of deliberations and input from different sources, and was set to become operational within the next few weeks.
“The system [maintaining records of arms licences] started deteriorating in the early 1980s and by the end of the decade, the practice of acquiring fake licences had become rampant in the province,” he observed. “We now think that it is time to overhaul the whole system, including any loopholes that allow such illegal practices to flourish.”
Sale of prohibited weapons
The Sindh home department currently issues 300 arms licences a month. The permits allow the legal ownership of guns that are used mainly for self-protection in view of rising numbers of street crimes and the falling performance of law-enforcement agencies.
The provincial government’s attempt may deliver the desired results in terms of restarting the process of arms licensing across the province. Of great concern, however, are the illegal practices that are beyond its authority, as there has been a serious increase in the city in arms licences acquired from federal authorities through illegal means and being utilised here.
Saddar Town houses the city’s oldest arms market where over 50 shops sell locally-made and imported, state-of-the-art guns. A report released recently by the area’s police suggests that a large number of traders facilitate buyers by helping them acquire licences under the quota meant for legislators, and without fulfilling the formalities. Furthermore, these traders sell weapons of prohibited bores, including AK-47 assault rifle.
“No arrest has been made as such, since the investigation was undertaken to obtain information about these traders’ modus operandi,” said a police official who was part of the team that visited the market. “Interaction with several traders suggested that traders usually offer to get a licence from Islamabad under the MNA quota, which is valid in Karachi, for the potential buyer.”
According to this official, this practice is attracting buyers from Balochistan and the NWFP, who prefer Karachi’s traders because they help in getting licences from legislators in Islamabad. Furthermore, he said, the majority of these traders were also found to fudge their records to evade taxes, and to avoid documentation in order to continue to illegally sell various weapons.
The SSP Saddar Town, Dr Aamir Shaikh, confirmed that the police had undertaken this investigative exercise, and that astonishing malpractices had been unearthed as a result. These, he said, could be stopped through joint efforts by law enforcers and the authorities in Islamabad.
“This sort of thing [illegal weapon sales and licensing] should not happen,” he commented. “With this objective in mind, we are in touch with the dealers who believe in fair trade and are also keeping an eye on the ones who are behind the illegal practices.”
Dr Shaikh said that the police had taken up the issue and conveyed their concerns to superior authorities so that a combined effort could be made to regulate arms licensing. The illegalities, he added, challenged on the one hand the performance of the regulatory bodies, and on the other allowed criminal elements to acquire licences for whichever gun they wanted, without facing the relevant authorities.
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