Crackdown on display of weapons continues

In wake of a crackdown against carrying and showing off weapons during till the by-elections were conducted, Lahore Police continued its crackdown and arrested two suspects.

The Punjab government had issued special orders of cancellation of licences of the weapons in the constituencies where by-elections were scheduled.

The decision had been taken after an armed clash between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) activists in Johar Town.

The decision had also been prompted after police claimed to have recovered heavy weapons from the house of a PTI leader. The leader had claimed all his weapons were duly licenced.

DIG Operations Sohail Chaudhry after chairing a press conference had claimed that the weapon was supposed to be used for coercive activities during the long march and they had acted proactively based on intelligence.

A PTI activist had also shot dead a police constable who had appeared with a police team to conduct a raid ahead of the PTI long march. Reportedly, the suspect who opened was an ex-serviceman and had a licenced weapon.

He had taken the plea of self-defence and acted in self-defence during legal proceedings. The suspects were arrested by Chowki Haloki police.

The arrested suspects identified as Waqas and Hassan had been driving a luxury car and carrying automatic weapons in it. Police seized weapons and registered a case against the suspect.

Lahore Police DIG Operations Sohail Chaudhry said that police have acted strictly against weapons during the last week.

As many as 25 pistols, five riffles, four pump action, 25 magazines and 266 bullets were recovered only by Dolphin Squad.

Commenting on the imposition of section 144 by the Punjab Home Department, CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana said that they would ensure the implementation of section 144 in letter and spirit. Police had been observing a zero-tolerance policy against carrying and show of weapons. He said that 25 licences that had been recovered from Bajash Niazi on May 25 have been cancelled.

Whoever had more than one license against their name and were not refraining from carrying weapons, Lahore police was getting their licences cancelled.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2022.