Armed nation

When we lament the growing rate of crime, militancy and other kinds of violence in the country, we do not always link this back to the large number of firearms that circulate through society. Around 11 out of every 100 people are in possession of a gun of one kind or the other, whether acquired legally or illegally. Out of these 20 million or so arms held by the Pakistani public, only seven million are licensed. The problem adds to the difficulties in enforcing law and order in the country. This task is made even more onerous by the fact that it seems tens of thousands of arms licenses were issued on fake challan forms, notably between the middle of 2008 and 2009. A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee was told of this scam by audit officers who had found that receipts issued for the arms did not match treasury records. It appears that the section officer of the interior ministry involved in this was later simply placed in another ministry despite being convicted.

This reflects the overall lack of concern with which we view the growing arsenal of arms collecting in private hands in our country. These weapons have come into the hands of criminal gangs, some of them backed by political elements, terrorists, untrained security guards and many other people who have no reason to hold them. The problem goes back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the regional war that broke out after this. However, over the years we should have been able to crack down on illegal arms. Pakistan currently ranks at sixth highest on a list of 178 countries in terms of the number of guns in possession of citizens. This figure correlates with the growing violence in a society where tensions of many kinds have made life increasingly insecure for ordinary citizens. The fact that it is possible for fake licences to be given out without check is in this set of circumstances particularly disturbing. It is imperative that we check the increasing number of arms in society and find a way to bring it down as part of what should be a broader battle against crime of all kinds and also the use of arms to harass others as has happened in a trigger-happy environment.