Fresh campaigns: Surrender illegal weapons, warn Rangers

Paramilitary force warns Karachiites to keep CNICs with them at all times to avoid arrest

KARACHI: While the drive against barriers and barricades continues in the city, the Rangers have taken up a new campaign against illegal weapons, urging Karachi's residents to surrender their illegal weapons by the end of the month.

The paramilitary force has also warned the people of Karachi to keep their CNICs with them at all times to avoid being arrested.

With the police and the government's failure to rid the city of unlicensed arms, the Sindh Rangers have now decided to take the matter in their own hands. In an official statement issued on Tuesday, the Rangers spokesperson said that possessing illegal arms or using fake licences was an offence under Section 23-1-A of the Sindh Arms Ordinance of 2013, with a maximum punishment of 14 years of rigorous imprisonment. He added that persons possessing illegal weapons would also be considered as associates of target killers and booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Rangers DG urged the residents of Karachi to surrender their illegal weapons at the nearest Rangers post by April 30. After this date, he warned, strict action will be taken.

Identify yourself

Meanwhile, late on Monday night, the Rangers issued another statement requesting the people of Karachi to keep their original CNICs with them at all times to prove their identity. They added that copies of identity cards will not be acceptable and the individuals in question will be taken into custody until their identity was proved.

Despite repeated attempts to contact them, Sindh home secretary Mukhtiar Soomro and the Rangers spokesperson were unavailable to comment about the legal status of these campaigns.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2015.