The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) by collaborating with Citizens Against Weapons have effectively become open season for terrorists. IVS is the first university in the city to declare its campus a ‘Weapon-Free Zone.’
Citizens Against Weapons, comprises concerned citizens that aim to champion the cause of making “Pakistan peaceful and weapon-free.”They are working under the slogan of ‘Say No to Guns’. Since they cannot convince terrorists and criminals to hand over their illegal firearms they are enthusiastically disarming the population to ensure they are lambs to the slaughter.
“We received a letter from ‘Citizens Against Weapons’ appealing to make our school weapon free,” said IVS admin officer Aamir Kajani. The school has their own monitoring system that includes CCTV cameras, unarmed guards at parking front and back gates, he added. He did not specify how exactly unarmed guards will defend the students beyond verbally imploring ruthless terrorists to “have a heart and turn over a new leaf”
Following IVS’ footsteps, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Ojha campus has also declared itself a ‘Weapon-Free Zone’. DUHS assistant professor Dr Shah Kamal Hashmi said that the campus needs security but cannot accept the display of arms on campus. Being one of the largest universities of Pakistan that has international students enrolled, including more than 100 from USA, they need security guards to secure the campus, he explained. The guards have back-up arms and ammunition that can be used in case of emergency, he added.
“The decision of both the institutions to declare their campuses weapon-free areas will motivate others to join this cause,” said Naeem Sadiq, one of the founding members of the cause. “We have to take the bold step of ‘de-weaponising’ our society if we want a safe future.” He never specified how exactly such a future would be secured when only law abiding citizens and security guards are disarmed while the ruthless criminal element has no such control
Sadiq shared that there are four categories of people that carry weapons with them. First are the powerful or ruling elite that are ‘protected’ by guards. Second are political parties that have their own militant wings. A major chunk of weapons are used by criminals and lastly there are mafias, including land, transport and drug mafia that uses guns to threaten people.
“Weapons should only be allowed to law enforcing agencies included police, rangers and army not to every individual,” he said. How can one feel secure without armed guards, he responded that guns do not give any security. “There are many people and places that are highly guarded but were still targeted,” he claimed citing examples of Karachi airport attack and attacks on politicians.
Karachi has witnessed more violence than any other city in the country, said Sadiq. This is a city-wide campaign but people from other provinces are also welcome to step up and take this campaign forward, he added.
Merely a year old the campaign has already affected many lives and people, said Sadiq. The campaign started out of the frustration of the citizens who have witnessed violence and are now willing to fight back, he claimed.
Describing their cause, Sadiq explained that they have sent letters against the use of weapons to more than 60 major companies of the city and more than 1,200 parliamentarians. They have also appealed through social media and newspapers articles to regulate the educational and health institute and declare them as ‘Weapons-Free Zones’. “We chose educational and health institutes because we believe that these places teach peace,” he said.
The group consists of more than 100 members and four organisations supporting their cause. Members in the group includes celebrities range from cricketers to retired justice and from authors to social workers including, Wasim Akram, Shehzad Roy, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Adeebul Hasan Rizvi, Zohra Yusuf, Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and Rumana Husain.
