Four VVIPs issued arms licences, Nisar tells NA

Minister does not clarify why govt ban ignored

ISLAMABAD: The country’s top security czar has informed the lower house of parliament that special weapons licences have been issued to four VVIPs, including the president’s son and the prime minister.

In a written response submitted in the National Assembly during the current session, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan informed the house that the licences were issued to President Mamnoon Hussain’s son Salman Hussain, PM Nawaz Sharif, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Mohammad Saqib Jilani. Hussain was issued licences in June for three firearms categorised as prohibited bore, while Jilani was issued two licences for non-prohibited bore and one for prohibited bore.



The interior minister did not clarify on what grounds the licences were issued to the four VVIP applicants despite a government ban on issuing new weapons licences.

Nisar also did not provide a suitable response to a question regarding the security detail provided to former presidents and premiers of the country.

$10m for FATA rehabilitation

The finance minister informed the NA that a grant of $10 million has been allocated for supporting the Pakistani government in rehabilitating the residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the agreement for which was signed in July.



Ishaq Dar said in a written response that $5 million were released in August to the bank account designated by the Pakistani government, and the State Bank of Pakistan has confirmed the receipt of the amount to the federal government’s account No 1. “The Chinese government is expected to release the remaining $5 million in March.”

73 regional passport offices

In a separate reply, Interior Minister Nisar informed the house that considering the shortage of passport offices across the country, the government has decided to set up 73 additional regional passport offices. After these 73 offices are established, the number of regional passport offices will increase from 95 to 168 by next December, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2015.