KARACHI – The citizens are facing severe hardships in getting weapon licences renewed within due dates as the Sindh government has shifted the authorisation process from the Pakistan Post to the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) without public notice. Reliable sources told Pakistan Today that previously Pakistan Post had the authority to renew the arms licences and paste postage stamps on the licences, but the provincial Home Department has suddenly shifted the process to NBP.
Interestingly, only the bank’s head office situated on the II Chundrigar Road, opposite the Central Police Office, has been designated for the renewal of arms licences and that too without informing the public. The Pakistan Post was authorised to renew arms licences issued by the Sindh government while the NBP was renewing licences issued by the Interior Ministry (federal government). However, this sudden move by the Sindh government is causing gross inconvenience to the people of the metropolis, who are visiting the offices of Home Department, district coordination officers and the Pakistan Post, but returning empty-handed.
Ali Nawaz – a citizen caught in the mire of the arms licence renewal process – told Pakistan Today that he visited a post office near his house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal for the renewal of a weapon licence but the staff told him that the Home Department was itself renewing the licences. “When I approached the Sindh Home Department’s concerned section, the officers informed me that the arms licences were being renewed at the NBP head office,” he added.
However, the senior officials of the Home Department are not pleased with the idea of weapons licences being renewed by the specific branch of NBP.
The government should instruct the NBP’s management for launching the renewal process at its local branches also, so that people can get their weapon licences renewed near their residences like they did in the past with post offices, the sources opined.
Home Dept’s shenanigans test weapon owners’ patience
