Sindh

For personal safety: Permission sought to issue arms licences

The judges summoned the additional attorney-general on March 12 to explain the current factual position in this regard

Our Correspondent February 27, 2015

The interior ministry has, however, approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) for permission to continue issuing the new arms licences. STOCK IMAGE

KARACHI:

The demand for keeping weapons for personal safety is on the rise among officials and other people since the deadly Taliban attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar which claimed the lives of 130 children. This has led to increasing pressure on the interior ministry to issue arms licences.

The ministry, therefore, has requested the Sindh High Court (SHC) to allow it to issue plastic arms licences for carrying weapons of prohibited and non-prohibited calibres.

In 2012, a division bench had declared the federal government’s policy of replacing the old booklet arms licences with the new machine-readable plastic cards as illegal. The court had also ordered the government to issue the old booklet licences.

The interior ministry has, however, approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) for permission to continue issuing the new arms licences. In the application filed through the additional attorney-general, the interior secretary said the ministry is receiving a large number of requests for arms licences. He added that the ministry is unable to cater to the requests because of the stay granted by the court previously. The court was, therefore, requested to allow the ministry to continue issuing plastic card arms licences.

Court hearing

On Thursday, a division bench took up an application filed by arms dealers who had sought contempt proceedings against the interior minister, the chairperson of the National Database Registration Authority and others for allegedly issuing new arms licences in violation of the court’s judgment.

The two judges asked deputy attorney-general Ziaul Haq Makhdoom regarding the compliance of the court’s orders, to which he said he was unable to comment. He requested more time so that additional attorney-general Salman Talibuddin could appear to satisfy the court. The judges summoned the additional attorney-general on March 12 to explain the current factual position in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015.