Need of the hour : Citizens call for ‘Zarb-e-Aman’

Demonstrators demand a weapons-free, peaceful country

KARACHI: Citizens Against Weapons, an apolitical group of concerned citizens, rallied together on Saturday outside the Karachi Press Club to demand a 'Zarb-e-Aman' [peace operation] and held a demonstration for a weapons-free and peaceful Pakistan.

Members of the group held banners saying, "Say no to guns. All citizens are entitled to equal protection of the law-Article 25, Constitution of Pakistan", while others showcased posters that said "Bundook girao, kitab uthao [throw down weapons, pick up books]".

Researcher and member of Citizens Against Weapons, Ahmed Sadiq, told The Express Tribune that weapons should be withdrawn, since all evils seem to be springing from people carrying weapons. All private militias should be disbanded as the Rajanpur operation exposed just the tip of a huge iceberg of crime and militancy, he explained. Sadiq said the government should not allow anyone to carry weapons as it is their duty to give protection to all citizens. He added that operation Zarb-e-Aman should happen to make the country weapons-free.



Author Rumana Husain said only the state should be entitled to carry weapons and they are demanding the government ban all the weapons from the country to achieve ever-lasting peace. We have also engaged students and youth to create awareness amongst the masses, she added. "If we really wish for a peaceful environment then we have to take deweaponisation very seriously," said Karamat Ali, the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research.

Classical dancer Sheema Kirmani said civil society feels that the huge infiltration of arms in the city should be banned. "Only those who control security should have weapons, otherwise it creates total lawlessness," she said. "Security does not come from weaponisation, rather it comes when society is deweaponised."

According to retired businessman Asad Qizilbash, they have been holding demonstrations frequently to create awareness among the people that our society should be weapons-free. He said they have demanded the surrender of all weapons and the abolition of all private militias. He demanded that in the first phase illegal weapons or unlicensed weapons should be banned and later the government should initiate a buy-back policy for licensed guns.



A man was injured in a shooting incident outside a tea café in Defence on Tuesday night reportedly over a parking disagreement. The incident reiterated calls for deweaponisation in Karachi on the social media.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2016.