PESHAWAR, Feb 17: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Friday directed the federal interior and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home secretaries to review all the licences issued for prohibited and non-prohibited bore weapons and cancel those issued on political basis.

A single bench of the chief justice expressed annoyance over lacunas in the Arms Ordinance 1965, observing that several of the offences under this law were bailable and went in favour of accused persons.

The bench observed that provision of arms licences had become very convenient and these were often issued to non-deserving persons on political grounds.

It was observed that instead of taking steps for maintaining law and order the political parties were mostly interested in providing licenced arms to their workers. It was added that these days acquiring a licence for opening of an educational institution was tougher than getting a Kalashnikov licence.

The chief justice observed that during the British era there were several restrictions on issuance of arms licence and without the approval of the village headman and police concerned it could not be issued. The bench observed that the irresponsible issuance of arms licences had resulted in increasing street crimes and targeted killings.

The bench was hearing bail petitions of four persons charged with smuggling of arms and ammunition in a vehicle in the jurisdiction of Matani police station a few weeks ago. The police claimed to have recovered 13 repeater guns, six Kalashnikovs, four rifles, two Kalakovs, five pistols and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. The accused were charged under Sections 13 and 14 of the Arms Ordinance.

Advocates Nasrun Minallah and Atlas Khan appeared for the accused named Jehanzeb, Gulab Sher, Olas and Nasrullah. They contended that Section 13 of the Arms Ordinance dealt with penalties for different offences and it was bailable under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

They argued that Section 14 was not applicable to the present case, as it was related to violation of Section 21 pertaining to any premises whereas in the given case the alleged recovery was made from a vehicle. The bench granted bail to the four suspects with the condition of furnishing two sureties of Rs300,000 each. It observed that leniency in the law went in favour of these suspects.

The court also observed that faulty investigation often went in favour of accused persons. It added that the Provincial Judicial Academy had now been set up and appropriate training would be provided to lawyers, police officers, doctors, prosecutors and judicial officers.