27,000 fake weapons licences revoked in Punjab

LAHORE: An Interior Ministry initiative authenticating Punjab weapons licences on Wednesday led to the discovery of 27,000 fake documents which were later revoked.

The Interior Ministry had recently permitted non-prohibited arms licences to be issued.

After the 18th Amendment, the federal government only issues arms licences for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Later, the federal government decided to issue arms to only those who permanently resided in the aforementioned territories after Interior ministry officials showed reservations over people listing provincial addresses as their temporary residence in national identity cards to obtain arms.

Separately, the Punjab government directed DCs and NADRA officials to reject ‘duplicate’ licenses presented for computerisation of records. The move comes in the wake of reports on fake backdate licence trade blossoming. Weapon dealers have been doling out bribes Rs25,000 and upwards to obtain documents from DC offices.

According to reports, a mafia, operating in tandem with the delinquent employed at DC offices, would then stall document verification for up to two years. Of 900,000 Punjab licences, only 40% have been verified.