Weapon licences, whether computerised or in book form, will not be cancelled in Sindh yet, as no policy has so far been devised for this purpose by the provincial authorities, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Recently, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had announced that licences for weapons across the country would stand cancelled by August 31 and new computerised permits would be issued and registered by National Database and Registration Authority.
However, the minister did not mention any details of the process. Later, the cancellation date was extended up to September 30.
Officials in the provincial government told Pakistan Today that the arms licences issued by the Sindh government would not be cancelled, as the provincial authorities have not yet decided in this regard.
They said that Malik’s announcement was only about the weapon licences issued by the Interior Ministry and the Sindh government has decided not to cancel the licences issued by its Home Department, they added.
Reportedly, an average at least 20 illegal weapons are recovered every day while about 4,000 have been recovered during the current year only. To date, 191,780 licences have been issued in the Sindh province, of which 150,000 were issued during the seven-year period from 2001 to 2008. Also, the Sindh Home Department has already initiated a computerised licence generating system for weapons at a cost of Rs 17.5 million.
