Banning issuance of new arms licences is first step towards creating a civil society in the true sense of the term.
ISLAMABAD: The interior minister deserves plaudits for his decisions to ban the issuance of new arms licences, withdrawing Rangers and the FC from security duty of VIPs and prohibiting display of weapons by members of the general public. With respect to the decision on banning issuance of arms licences, he said that this could only be reversed by parliament. I hope that the ban on the issuance of arms licences also includes licences for prohibited bore weapons, which are issued with the approval of the prime minister.
I also hope that the minister remains steadfast in implementing the decisions announced by him for there will surely be pressure from several quarters to undo them. The PML-N’s parliamentary party ought to stand firmly behind the minister in implementing the above decisions. Besides, support is also needed from members of the civil society, the media and the NGOs, which claim to be against all forms of violence and militancy in our society. Now is the time and opportunity for all of them to lobby with full force for the complete implementation of decisions announced by the interior minister. It is for them to raise awareness in the public that all weapons, licenced or unlicenced, can kill and maim, and thus, their possession makes the owners more susceptible to perpetrating violence. The public has to be made conscious that security does not come from possessing lethal weapons but through enforcing justice and fair play in society. People have to be convinced that only the state-sanctioned security agency personnel should be possessing arms.
Banning the issuance of new arms licences is the first step towards creating a civil society in the true sense of the term. The next step in that direction would be to deweaponise society. It is hoped that the minister has started to plan for this as well.
Now, it was blatantly wrong in the first place to depute Rangers and FC personnel for security duty of VIPs. The interior minister has merely corrected a wrong. That this decision should make headlines is only a measure of how bad things have become in our country. Our society has reached such a sorry pass that even small mercies call for en masse thanksgiving.
Khalid Idrees
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2013.
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