I write as a victim of this mafia treatment and a victim of two bullets.
KARACHI: You are correct in your editorial, “Deweaponsing Sindh” published on August 16. I write as a victim of this mafia treatment and a victim of two bullets. One went in my navel, which luckily did not hit my spine or liver. The next, an eighth of an inch to my eye, went down my mouth, cutting my tongue in half, down my throat and is lodged in my right chest. I was lucky to have been shot adjacent to my left eye; had I been shot through my right eye, I would be dead as the bullet would have hit my heart. This was the result of having random guns all over Pakistan.
This is not the situation in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or India. It is right here at home and there are several aspects to fixing all of this. One is cutting off all unwanted weapons that can kill people. Second is to have a tight administration where nothing is sold to the public. Third is to cut down on the number of weapons shops operating or make sure that these sell just shotguns and non-lethal arms. Finally, make sure that the confiscated weapons from criminals are openly destroyed in front of tractors before the public. If they are taken away by law-enforcement authorities, it is possible they will be resold.
This has been the situation since Ziaul Haq came to power. He engulfed this nation in weapons, which are now very difficult to remove and are resulting in very low investments entering Pakistan. The genie is out of the bottle. Now, to put it back in is as tough as it is for Americans to handle the guns issue.
Navaid Husain
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2016.
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