With a view to improving the security situation in the country the Prime Minister in his maiden speech on the floor of National Assembly had announced banning automatic weapons but he was opposed by many parliamentarians. Interior Ministry, sources said, has argued that after the 18th Constitutional amendment the subject of arms and ammunition has been omitted from the Concurrent Legislative List and consequently devolved to the provinces. All provinces have since been issuing licences of prohibited (automotive) weapons.
In the context of present security environment and earlier indiscriminate issuance of prohibited (automatic) weapon licences without proper verification, Interior Ministry felt that there is a need to discourage use of prohibited (automatic) weapons and regulate it on a priority basis in the larger national interest.
In order to streamline policy governing use of prohibited ( automatic ) weapons and bring uniformity regarding non-prohibited weapons, the Interior Ministry submitted the following proposals to the cabinet for approval: (i) all licences of prohibited ( automatic ) weapons issued by the federal government may be suspended under section 12(1)(b), the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965 with the exception of licences issued to Law Enforcement Agencies and government organisation; (ii) prohibited ( automatic ) weapons licencees may be directed (a) to get their prohibited ( automatic) weapons converted into non-prohibited/ semi-automatic weapons from licenced arms dealers/ armourers before January 15, 2018 and get new licences in lieu of suspended prohibited ( automatic ) weapon licences or deposit the said weapon back to government at the rate of Rs 50,000 for prohibited/automatic rifle and Rs 10,000 for automatic hand gun/ pistol; and (b) to comply with the above-mentioned options within stipulated period failing which will entail cancellation of their prohibited weapon licence in term of section 12(1)(6) of the Pakistan arms Ordinance, 1965.
Interior Ministry also proposed that a ban may be imposed by federal government on issuance of non-prohibited bore licences may be lifted forthwith.
The sources said, Ministry of Interior has issued more than 90,000 licences of prohibited weapons, and of these more than eighty per cent are automatic weapons. The financial implication of buying back these prohibited weapons at the rate of Rs 50,000 per automatic rifle and Rs 10,000 per automatic pistol/ hand gun is as follows: (i) the cost of 10,000 automatic rifles- Rs 500 million; (ii) 25,000 automatic rifles- Rs 1.25 billion; (iii) 50,000 automatic weapons- Rs 2.5 billion; (iv) 75,000 prohibited weapons- Rs 3.75 billion and (v) cost of 90,000 automatic weapons will be Rs 4.5 billion. The price of auto pistol/hand gun of 2,000 of category 1 will be Rs 20 million and Rs 30 million is estimated for 3,000 auto rifles of category 2.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017