Govt suspends licenses for automatic weapons: Secretary Interior

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday was informed by Secretary Ministry of Interior Arshad Mirza that the government had suspended all licenses for automatic weapons of prohibited bores.

The PAC meeting was presided over by Naveed Qamar and discussed audit reports of ministry of interior for 2016-17 as well.

The secretary ministry of interior said however, security forces would remain an exception to the newly imposed sanction on automatic weapons of prohibited bores.

A deadline of January 31, 2018, had been set to change prohibited weapons with un-prohibited weapons, he said.

He said citizens holding licenses for prohibited bore weapons could either obtain a new license for un-prohibited bore from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) or submit their weapons to the district commissioner, magistrate or political agent.

Audit officials informed the PAC that NADRA had given a bonus to its employees of Rs 60 million which was against the rules. The NADRA official said the bonus given to employees was given as per rules accordingly.

The audit official also informed the committee that NADRA purchased license books above the rates and violated the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority which was against the law. To which the NADRA chairman said no official was found guilty in the inquiry conducted as it was just a technical fault.