Officials said arms manufacturers and dealers had been informed through advertisements. PHOTO: FILE
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government is set to cancel licences of 400 arms manufacturers and dealers in the province because they failed to register their businesses, officials told The Express Tribune on Thursday.
On April 16, K-P Home and Tribal Affairs department issued a notification asking arms dealers and manufacturers to submit details of their businesses by April 29. Otherwise, their licences would be cancelled.
Details sought included a site map, address of the factory, contract agreement, property registry and ownership, details on machinery and particulars including names and national identity card numbers of skilled and unskilled workers at the factory.
Home department had made it clear in case of failure, arms manufacturers and dealers would be dealt in accordance with the rules and regulations mentioned in the K-P Arms Policy, 2013. However, only a few manufacturers and dealers submitted the required details before the set deadline.
Earlier, there were only 45 licenced arms manufacturers in the province. But in 2011 and 2012, the department issued more than 210 manufacturing licenses, generating revenue of around Rs150 million.
Officials said arms manufacturers and dealers had been informed through advertisements to provide all the details about their businesses, but since around 400 of the 600 license holders failed to reply to the home department, it is now prepared to cancel their licenses.
“We have computerized everything and we need data prior to 2012 since there are more than 500 license holders who do not run business, but have acquired the authority to manufacture arms,” an official said requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
He said they have issued around 600 licenses to arms dealers and manufacturers, adding one dealer is supposed to send at least one consignment a month. “We hardly receive a transportation license a day, which clearly indicates very limited businesses are operational and only a few factories manufacture arms and ammunition. Similarly, few arms dealers run their shops.”
He added the department is going to start a crackdown against all those who have failed to meet the criteria in the next few days.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2013.
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this should be effective
No one would ever buy weapons from an unregistered vendor.