Pakistan will continue suffering incidents like Orlando daily, unless state asks citizens to surrender all weapons
KARACHI: In Peshawar recently, a road rage incident spiralled out of control when a teenager pulled out an M-16 assault rifle and fired at an unarmed motorcyclist, who had committed the crime of overtaking and coming in the way of the car. The white car bore a fake government number plate. The incident took place in the sensitive cantonment area of Peshawar, where vehicles are searched for weapons at all entry points. This vehicle, however, managed to dodge the search parties for it was impersonating as an official government vehicle, with its fake green coloured Government of Pakistan number plate. Partly the fear of rebuff and partly considering that government vehicles are used by trustworthy officials, the law-enforcement agencies often let such vehicles through without any serious search.
The link between fake government vehicles, weapons and terrorism has been repeatedly highlighted and is understood by everyone except the law-enforcement agencies of Pakistan. In Sindh, there are an estimated 200,000-300,000 fake government vehicles that break rules, park at wrong places, enter prohibited locations, violate all traffic laws, do not pay taxes and indulge in crime and militancy on a daily basis. The police, however, remain completely unmoved, apathetic and unwilling to capture this vital opportunity that can put criminals, weapons and crime in one metal box at the same time.
Many citizens have spent years in understanding the details of lawless vehicles, written on this issue and even sent pictures of fake vehicles to the highest officials of the Sindh police. The police will, however, not move an inch as they are trained only to fight fires and not to take proactive measures to prevent crime. Another reason could be that law enforcers are themselves the biggest law-breakers. The Sindh government and the Sindh police have not bothered to register a large percentage of their own vehicles.
It is sad that Pakistan will continue suffering its daily quota of incidents like Orlando unless the state asks all citizens to surrender all weapons, does away with all government vehicles, implements a nation-wide standard registration number plate system and creates an easily searchable national database for all vehicles in Pakistan.
Naeem Sadiq
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2016.
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