A senior official of the ministry of interior shocked many senators with the information that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued nearly 80,000 arms licenses having countrywide validity in the past one year.
Additional Secretary Ministry of Interior Mukhtar Ali Khan told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior yesterday that the 18th Constitution Amendment granted the provinces the authority to issue arms licences, and they wanted to keep it.
The committee, which met with Senator Talha Mehmood in the chair, was informed that Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also legislated relevant laws of their own.
Mukhtar Ali Khan said the KP had issued 79,256 licences and Sindh 17,000 over the past one year.
Punjab issued 2,482 licences during the same period, including 133 for arms of prohibited bore for Nandipur power project, and Balochistan 1,132 arms licences.
The committee chairman, Talha Mehmood, accused the KP government of concealing facts and claimed that it had also issued licences for prohibited bore.
He said that a new arms policy prepared by the interior ministry had been sent to the law ministry for opinion.
The policy, however, has been sent to the prime minister and was likely to be discussed by the cabinet.
The Senate panel chairman said it had been proposed in the draft policy that no licence should be issued to a person of criminal background or a tax evader.
He said the provinces would have the powers to issue licences of non-prohibited bore under the proposed policy, while the prohibited bore licences would be issued after prime minister’s approval.
