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ISLAMABAD: “You people called me today and now tell me that the system is not yet in place,” yelled an old man who came from Abbottabad for validation of the arms licence for his AK-47 rifle at the Nadra office in G-8 Markaz.
Nadra staff’s polite response to Noor Mohammad did nothing to calm him down. “I have been running from pillar to post ever since the government announced that arms holders must get their licence from Nadra by September 30 and here you say Nadra is not ready,” he fumed.
In fact, the Nadra office in G-10 opened a window for the purpose after the official announcement in the second week of August but only to close down after four days for want of a laid-down procedure.
Noor Mohammad was frustrated because Nadra in Abbottabad knew nothing about the revalidation process and had to travel to Rawalpindi and then to Islamabad to get information.
Like him, a large number of licence holders of arms of prohibited and non-prohibited bores are smarting under the interior minister`s stern warnings regarding revalidation and conversion of arms licences into computerised document.But the whole idea looks leading to a big mess as no modus operandi has been laid down for doing that.
Officials at the Nadra centre in G-8 centre had been telling the applicants for revalidation that the process would start from Monday, August 22, but those who turned up there were given August 25 as the new start-up date.
After the first arms licence window opened at Nadra office in G-10 was closed, the applicants were directed to apply for the new computerised revalidation card at the Nadra branch in G-8 Markaz.
“Currently, there are two arms licence windows of Nadra in the whole country - one in G-8 markaz and other in Soan in Rawalpindi district,” said a Nadra official.
According to the government plans, arms licence counters will be established at designated branches of Nadra’s 158 centres across the country. What to say about the entire revalidation procedure, Nadra does not even know what fee to charge or which bank would collect it.
An official in Nadra head office said more has been announced through media than officially conveyed to Nadra.
“We are worried about executing the gigantic task,” he said. “How and where do we confirm that a licence presented to Nadra for revalidation is genuine or fake?”
But he hoped Nadra will get the complete data from provinces soon to check that. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has, meanwhile, promised the provincial governments that his ministry will assist them in the process of revalidation and computerisation of arms licences.
But the hidden reality is that the provincial governments are displeased at the idea of centralising the arms licence data in Nadra. Obviously that would deprive them of political leverage.
“This is a good idea but the centre should first of all computerise the prohibited and non-prohibited bore arms permits and licences issued by federal government,” said an officer in Punjab Home Department.
The Sindh government looks even more adamant. “We are already issuing computerised licences. We can even convert the existing licence books to computerised cards,” Sharfuddin Memon, adviser to the Sindh Home Department, told Dawn.
Since most of the licences are issued at the district level, the records of arms permits and licences are also maintained at the arms licence branch of DCO/DC office, and like Sindh none of the province has centralised data of the arms licences issued in that province.
Besides, the provincial departments are also waiting for the directives from federal government to move ahead for the computerisation and revalidation process of arms licences/permits.
Arms licence holders naturally worry caught in the power struggle between the interior ministry and the provincial authorities.
