Residents of Karachi stepped out on Sunday morning to draw awareness to their anti-weapon movement. The participants of the walk against weapons want to see a gun-free Pakistan. PHOTO: AYSHA SALEEM/EXPRESS
KARACHI: Citizens participated in a walk on Sunday morning to push for a 'weapons free Pakistan'.
A large number of citizens gathered at Sea View Beach to stress the importance of ridding society of weapons and to spread peace and harmony.
The walk — organised by Citizens Against Weapons (CAW), and endorsed by some NGOs such as Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan — started at Sea View McDonalds and concluded at Chunky Monkey theme park.
Criticising the 'ineffectiveness' of the National Action Plan, CAW member Naeem Sadiq told The Express Tribune that ridding the country of illegal weapons and re-registering licensed ones should be made part of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. "All licensed weapons should be re-verified, and all prohibited bore ones should be cancelled," said Sadiq.
He claimed that around 12 million unlicenced weapons are awash in the country.
The walk comprised a large number of families, students and activists who held up placards promoting books over guns and some against 'VIP culture'. A student, Amir Zia, said weapons are the root cause of all menace in society, adding that "it's my dream to see our society free of weapons."
Rumana Husain of CAW said the idea [behind the walk] is just to create awareness as actually ridding society of weapons will take a lot more effort and mobilisation. Another participant, Haji Nazim, said "The root cause of our country's problems is weapons."
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2016.
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