Representa-tives of civil society organisations expressed concerns over proliferation and misuse of small arm and ammunition and urged the government to take concrete steps to control the manufacturing and trade of light weapons to establish a peaceful and prosperous society. Speaking at a joint press conference of Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN) on eve of 'Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence' at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday Qamar Naseem, a right activist said that the exhibition and use of small arms and weapons have rapidly increased in the society due to lack of proper action by the authorities concerned.
Flanked by Sana Gulzar, a social activist, Radesh Tonny from Sikh Community, Farzana Riaz of president TransAction Alliance, Imran Takkar, child activist and Taimoor Kamal coordinator of PCSN, and others, he said the manufacturing and supply of small arms is generating enormous issues in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan. Naseem said the tendency of use and sale of small arms among youth is rapidly growing up, due to which, the crime, lawlessness, violence, extortion, and other criminal activities are increasing day by day, he added.
He said in study it was revealed that Pakistan was, as of 2016, the 9th-largest arms importer in the world. Pakistan is said to have 20 million guns, of which only 7 million are registered. The right activist said the politicians often make statements to de-weaponise in the country but at the same time they make demands to provide arms licenses to lawyers, traders, and political parties, in 2013 the govt admitted to issue 69,473 prohibited bore licenses to MNAs alone.
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