We are patriotic Pakistanis who believe in ourselves and our destiny
LAHORE: This letter refers to the one appearing on the subject, “State-sponsored proliferation” by Naeem Sadiq for Citizens Against Weapons (February 23). Crime is committed by a criminal; a weapon, meaning a firearm is only a tool, nearly always unlicensed. Freezing the issue of arms licences actually increases their illegal sale. Just as a nation, an individual, too, has the right to self-defence, especially with the rise of crime and terrorism. Robberies and house break-ins were rare in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa back then because every house had a firearm and even women could use them. When law-abiding citizens are denied means of legitimate defense it is the criminal who rejoices, and crime rises.
We are being made a frightened nation. Crime and terrorism are now right on our homeland and we have to fight back from inside, every man and every woman. The citizens training programme, the abandoned National Cadet Corps must be restarted nationwide for our youngsters. Firearms are not banned in Europe; they are only not allowed to be carried in public. They have a large number of rifle clubs there and their shooters win Olympic medals. Licensed firearms are permitted in India, there are thousands of rifle clubs, even in schools and colleges; we have only four. They have won Olympic medals in shooting and their shooting budget is more than our total national sports budget, and shooting is now their priority sport. Yet, they have no terrorism there like we have.
We are now a nation at war, and remember, wars are fought by nations, not just armies. Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “I can fight armies; not people.” Only a brave nation capable of a second defence line can have an army fight bravely on the front. When the French Army was overrun by the Germans in WWII, the people’s partisan resistance fought back.
The understanding of these letter writers is simplistic and myopic, lacking deeper comprehension of issues. They are confusing legitimate firearms with suicide jackets and improvised explosive devices, which are not licensed weapons. In Pakistan, not a single member of a shooting sport has ever been reported for crime let alone convicted. The same goes for most licensed arms holders; very few are accused of crime, and that too in family feuds. What need to be banned are the militant wings of political parties who are involved in crime.
Terrorism is a completely different issue and has different reasons and roots. Banning licensed firearms will have zero effect on it. Sorry, we are not influenced by America’s National Rifle Association. We are patriotic Pakistanis who believe in ourselves and our destiny.
Khalid Javed
Former EVP and Secretary General, National Rifle Association of Pakistan
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2017.
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