Please don't foster gun culture

Even if half of the information on the booming gun culture in the country placed before a Senate sub-committee on Wednesday was correct, we as ordinary citizens of Pakistan would tend to believe that of the list of various elements promoting criminality in society, the government is on the top.
Would you believe that between December 2007 and December 2009, some 140,000 arms licences were issued by the Interior Ministry - despite the ban on the issuance of fresh licences? Of these, about 7,000, of prohibited bore, were issued by the prime minister. Then, there is the scandalous aspect that an IT network, to which the Nadra had outsourced the preparation of computerised arms licences, was stashing away, in its own pocket, the fees for the licences which should have been deposited in the government exchequer. Not only this, even a notorious foreign security agency managed to get some two hundred bogus licences issued after the concerned officials had allegedly received about 200,000 dollars as bribe.
And all this was happening right under the nose of the officials in the Interior who are supposed to check such malpractices. We are talking of arms that have been issued against licences; juxtapose this situation with the millions of arms already in the hands of the people, either legally or illegally.
Certainly, we are confronted with a threat of biblical proportions. No wonder then that hundreds of people are waylaid everyday by wayside goons; dacoits are on the rampage throughout the country and it is no surprise that scores get killed at wedding receptions when excited revellers resort to aerial firing. No doubt, the surfeit of arms in the hands of people, legally or illegally, is one of the main reasons for the ubiquitous sense of insecurity among the ordinary people.
Isn't it obvious that the bureaucracy is least bothered about the dangerous consequences of their dereliction of duty, often induced by greed, to the peace and tranquillity of society. What message would the prime minister like to convey to the ordinary people, whose lives are neither safe nor their homes secure, by issuing thousands of prohibited-bore licences to his political allies and cronies.
One may say, he is telling his friends that his government cannot ensure their safety and security; therefore you are on your own. Or, one may say, he would like to equip his friends and cronies with extra physical power to further terrorise their adversaries. Of course, one does accept the fact that in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the gun is a 'man's ornament', and in no case would he part with it.
But, it is also true that the kind of responsibility, in use of that weapon, he exhibits is exemplary - there is just no reason that he would 'misuse' his weapon. But that's not the case when hundreds of licences are doled out to parliamentarians from the settled areas. Invariably, these licences are then sold out in the market.
The whole idea of issuing arms licences to individuals is outdated and must be scrapped. The age and times when individuals were supposed to fend for themselves are over; it is now the state's responsibility to provide security to each citizen. Instead of arming individuals, the government must improve the law and order situation by strengthening the capacity of the law-enforcing agencies.
At the same time, massive drives should be launched to deweaponise areas and localities where people tend to keep arms. Such a move may even bring down the rate of suicide, which in a number of cases, is committed by licensed service guns.
The lead in this direction should come from the prime minister, who may surrender his authority to grant licences of prohibited-bore guns. No question, the action must be taken against officials in the Interior Ministry who played havoc with this otherwise sensitive issue. But, more importantly, the government should turn the page on the old custom of granting arms licences to its favourites and stop issuing arms licences to individuals.