Govt cuts arms licence issuance by over 90pc

Pakistan has sharply reduced the issuance of non-prohibited-bore arms licences, granting only 5,700 over 13 months compared with more than 100,000 in a typical year previously.

Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry gave the figures to the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control on Monday. The committee met under Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman.

The government now requires applicants to provide a police character certificate, a measure intended to prevent people with criminal records from obtaining licences. Applicants must also secure a parliamentarian’s recommendation. Each National Assembly constituency can issue only five such recommendations a month.

Officials told the committee that prohibited-bore licences remain limited to entitled applicants, including parliamentarians, judges, army and police officers, and recipients of national awards. They also said no policy currently governs business-category arms licences in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The Interior Ministry will brief the committee on how it plans to handle special cases.

The meeting also covered visas for Afghan nationals. Chaudhry said authorities conduct due diligence before issuing visas and grant extensions on a case-by-case basis. He told the committee that Afghan nationals accounted for 60% of those involved in terrorism incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.