Karachi unrest: CJ Khan says illegal weapons root cause of increased violence

The metropolis has turned into a place where residents are constantly afraid for their safety says PHC CJ.

PESHAWAR:

While hearing a bail application of an arms smuggler, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan took up the matter of killings in Karachi and said: “The availability of illegal arms and ammunition is the main reason for rampant violence in the city.”

The country’s economic hub had once been a peaceful place, but now the metropolis has turned into a place where residents are constantly afraid for their safety. This surge in violence can be traced to the time when illegal weapons started being dumped and sold in the city, he said.

Along with the bail application filed by arms smuggler Munir, who goes by one name, the court accepted a sum of Rs0.1 million with two reliable sureties. He, however, warned that if Munir was held again for smuggling weapons, the case would be reopened with harsher consequences.

According to an FIR registered by Cantt police station in Kohat, Munir had been arrested on October 11, 2012 under sections 13 and 14 of the Arms Ordinance for smuggling weapons.

Counsel for the petitioner, Tariq Afridi, said Munir was a known arms dealer and that the weapons were being smuggled to be sold in Bannu.

The trial court had sent Munir behind bars for seven years rigorous imprisonment, against which Munir had filed an appeal before the high court.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2012