Up in arms against arms: PTI tables adjournment motion on illegal weapons in Sindh

More than one million weapons licences have been cancelled

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman tabled an adjournment motion in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday to discuss the issue of illegal weapons in the province.

Submitting the adjournment he said, "I have requested to adjourn the upcoming assembly proceedings and discuss the issue of illegal weapons because it is a matter of public importance".

Later, talking to the media, Zaman demanded the Sindh government inform the public about what happened to the one million weapons licences that have now been cancelled.

He also urged all law enforcement agencies to take notice of this issue with appropriate action as per the law. "Besides cleaning up the garbage, I also urge the Sindh government to clean up the province from illegal weapons," he said.

He went to say that government's decision of cancelling the weapons' licences is not a real solution to the problem and there should be a deweaponisation drive.

Regarding the cancelled licences, he said that the government should provide the names and details of the license holders.  "The government should check if the weapons held by unvalidated licence holders are legal [or not]," he said, adding that the government should also investigate when these licences were issued. He alleged that the Sindh government postponed the computerisation of weapons' licences as per the wishes of a political party.

Zaman stated that weapon holders who are consistently avoiding the computer registration process should have their licences revoked and weapons seized. He urged people to surrender illegal weapons and asked the government not to succumb to political pressure.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2016.