It may be equally appropriate for honourable parliamentarians to voluntarily disarm themselves
KARACHI: Not long ago, an ex-senator was arrested on charges of facilitating sectarian killings. He was found to be in possession of five prohibited bore weapons — four licensed and one unlicensed. This seems to fit well with interior minister’s confession in the National Assembly, some five years back, that parliamentarians had been issued with 69,473 prohibited bore gun licenses.
One assumes that parliamentarians are elected to peacefully work for the interests of ordinary citizens. A parliament loaded with 69,743 prohibited bore gun licenses (the number has increased substantially since then) could only be engaged in ideas and acts of crime and militancy.
Why does the Government of Pakistan need to appease its ruling elite with such a large number of weapons of mass destruction — issued entirely without any verification or bac-ground check? When the state looks for reasons for militancy in Pakistan, it may be best to start with Constitution Avenue in Islamabad. It may be equally appropriate for honourable parliamentarians to voluntarily disarm themselves and surrender their weapons so that a national movement for civilian deweaponisation could be initiated in Pakistan.
Naeem Sadiq
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2016.
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