he government must shun its policy of generous and unaccounted-for distribution of gun licences
KARACHI: On 13 December 2017, the Sindh home minister promised the business community to provide them with gun licences as a safety measure. Asking people to arrange for their own security is equal to a government’s admission of its own failure in protecting citizens. It is also a manifestation of the government countering its own measures to control proliferation of weapons that would in turn lead to more crimes and violence in the province, specially in Karachi.
Is the government in Pakistan expecting every fuel station, bank, private and government educational institution, industrial unit and business house in the country to ensure their own protection and have its own guns and guards? In short, it is becoming increasingly evident that the government has decided to limit its security-net exclusively to the ruling cadre while the ordinary citizens are left to seek the services of security companies or simply fend for themselves. Abandoning one of its primary responsibilities of protecting its citizens, the state has increasingly begun to appear like a ‘Republic of Private Security Agencies’.
We as Citizens against Weapons are deeply disappointed with the government’s attitude of rapidly relinquishing its responsibility towards the security of its citizens. The Sindh home minister instead should have undertaken measures to reduce guns and violence in the province, specially in its urban areas and improve the law and order situation. The state ought to be viewed not as a ‘gun supporting’ but a ‘gun eliminating’ body. The government must shun its policy of generous and unaccounted-for distribution of gun licences. It is time to reduce and not to add more to the millions of guns already held by citizens in Pakistan.
Naeem Sadiq
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2017.
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