KARACHI, Dec 14: As a result of the liberal and weapons-friendly policies of the previous and present governments, the city has reached the saturation point in illegal and legal weapons, it has emerged.

The latest ethnic violence in Karachi amply demonstrated not only the proliferation of illegal weapons in the city, but their use in the sporadic shooting incidents across the metropolis, which claimed more than 40 lives.

Towards the end of November, different parts of Karachi reverberated with gunfire for days, reviving memories of the 1980s.

The present government also seems to have subscribed to the weapons-friendly policy of the previous government, as there is no let-up in the issuance of arms licences.

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza, a weapons enthusiast, has at least half a dozen, if not over a dozen, weapons licences issued in his name. However, he has strictly ordered that no licence be issued without police verification. For the purpose he has also given a copy of his own licences to the issuing authority to show to people who seek a waiver.

According to official estimates, an overwhelming number of permits for prohibited bores were issued for the city by the federal government during the eight-year rule of the previous government.

When it comes to undocumented or illegal weapons, there are just estimates and guesses on part of the government agencies.

“If the law enforcement and intelligence agencies don’t have an estimate of the number of illegal weapons in the city, it’s their incompetence,” said a senior official of a law enforcement agency, asking not to be named. The law enforcement agencies are vague about the quantum of weaponry in the city, the official remarked.

The city police chief told Dawn that a recent advertisement by the Sindh home department advising people to register their weapons at the nearest police station was aimed at gathering data on the weaponry.

Link with Nadra

CCPO Waseem Ahmed said the arms licence books seem obsolete. He suggested that arms licences should be linked up with the Nadra network. But the licence-issuing authorities keep the data of licensed weapons close to their chest.

Some background interviews conducted by Dawn suggest that white collar salaried people refrain from acquiring weapons licences, and they are the most vulnerable to house robberies and street crime. If such people decide to obtain an arms licence, they usually give up on the idea after going through the initial phase of the process. On the other hand, a minister or an influential person may move around with an army of guards carrying sophisticated weapons.

A police officer quoting an American study said there were more chances of a person being killed using a weapon in self-defence than being without it. However, observing the pattern of street crime in the city, there have been instances in which a robbery victim with a weapon killed the fleeing outlaw. But at the same time there are overwhelming instances where the victim gets killed while resisting a crime.

Amassed weapons

Sources said that both individuals and organised groups, such as sectarian, ethnic and even political ones, have amassed weapons on the pretext of self-protection.

The ethnic violence in the city that erupted on Nov 29 amply showed a free use of weapons. Over 40 persons were killed and hundreds others were wounded in the violence that lasted for three days. Hospital records showed that almost all victims – whether dead or wounded – were hit by gunshots.

Officials in the law enforcement agencies said that after the disruption of the weapons market in Darra Adamkhel, owing to the on-going military operation, there has been a displacement of weapons as well as manufacturers across the country. If not substantial, some quantity of weapons has reached Karachi, officials admit.

However, law enforcement agencies do not seem interested in carrying out covert operations at the bus terminuses where passenger buses arrive from the NWFP.

It is said that at the bus terminuses of Sohrab Goth and Shireen Jinnah Colony, arms and ammunitions are offloaded under the garb of passenger baggage.