QUETTA: The Balochistan government has started issuing computerised weapons licences in the provincial capital, replacing the manual arms licences issued to the people earlier.

In the first phase, the computerised arms licences will be issued to the people living in Quetta and soon the system will be launched in all districts of the province.

The deputy commissioner of Quetta, Saad bin Asad, while launching the system along with director general of Nadra Balochistan Muhammad Kashif Iqbal and additional deputy commissioner Muhammad Anwar Kakar, told a press conference at his office that a two-month period has been given to the people of Quetta to switch their manual arms licences to computerised ones.

Under the new system, these digital or computerised weapons’ licenses will be issued in the form of smart cards for a duration of five years.

Nadra is providing full support to the provincial government for this switching process and a Nadra branch has also been established at the deputy commissioner’s office in Quetta to help the people change their manual weapons licences to computerised arms licences.

Mr Assad said that an app will also be introduced for computerised license of weapons and strict action will be taken against the people carrying weapons without computerised licences.

In the phase 1, he said, new computerised weapon licenses are being issued and old licenses are being computerised as well.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2024