Govt cuts arms licence issuance by over 90pc

The federal government has slashed the issuance of non-prohibited-bore arms licences by over 90 percent, issuing only 5,700 licences in the past 13 months, according to the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control. Previously, more than 100,000 arms licences were issued annually. A police character certificate is now mandatory for licence applicants, and a parliamentarian's recommendation is required, with each constituency limited to five per month.

Prohibited-bore licences are issued strictly to entitled individuals, including parliamentarians, judges, army and police officers, and recipients of national awards. There is no policy for issuing business-category arms licences in certain regions. For Afghan nationals, no visa is granted without due diligence, with extensions granted on a case-by-case basis, primarily on humanitarian grounds for students and those requiring medical treatment.

Approximately one million Afghans were given visas over two years during normal relations with the neighbouring country. Out of 60 percent of terrorism incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Afghan nationals were involved. The committee heard that Afghan intentions towards Afghanistan were not right. Afghan nationals have also been implicated in terrorism incidents in Islamabad and the murder of trader Aamir.

The Federal Investigation Agency does not routinely check passengers' mobile phones or social media accounts at airports, only checking those with information regarding human smuggling. The committee was briefed on an intelligence-based Sindh Police operation in District Shikarpur that recovered a kidnapped minor girl and another trafficked victim.