Thaindian News

Islamabad, April 20(ANI): The Pakistan Government has sent a list of names and other particulars to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for the issuance of 7,000 arms licences despite a ban in this regard.

“We are also receiving individual applications for arms licences, which are recommended by the prime minister,” the Dawn quoted NADRA’s Deputy Chairman Tariq Malik, as saying.

The ban on the issuance of arms licences was imposed on January 1, 2010 and is still in place.

Malik claimed that the requests for 7,000 arms licences sent by the Interior Ministry were not new, but that they had been pending since the ban was imposed.

According to information collected from the Interior Ministry, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has allowed issuance of over 300 licences for prohibited bore arms since the ban was imposed.

Some of the licences went to high-profile personalities such as former Joint Chief of Staff Committee General (retired) Tariq Majeed, Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir, and Gilani’s sons Syed Ali Qasim and Syed Haider Ali Gilani.

Some legislators and bureaucrats were also among the beneficiaries.

Pakistan Muslim League-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal criticised the government’s move, saying: “On the one hand, the government has imposed a ban on arms licences, and on the other, the prime minister is issuing new licences.”

He alleged that Gilani had been issuing hundreds of prohibited bore licences.

The government has reportedly issued over 100,000 arms licences since 2008, including prohibited bores.

Most of them were issued to the leaders of Pakistani political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is said to be the largest recipient of these licences.

“We have obtained hundreds of arms licences for our leaders and workers for self-defence,” MQM leader Zahid Mehmood said, adding: “We got the arms licences. Our enemies have illegal weapons and surely we can have legal ones.” (ANI)