Antiquated laws

Section 83 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act-1967 elaborates itself in its title as ‘distress and sale of movable property and crops’. The British have long gone and have nothing of the sort in the law of their own land, but we are still happy to put ourselves in ‘distress’ at the hands of our own civil servants. Another example pertinent to the current law and order situation relate to the ‘Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Ordinance-2015’.

The police are ordering security companies to issue 50 cartridges per guard without realising that in the first place these many cartridges cost a lot. Second, the weight of 50 cartridges comes to around 2.25kg which is an additional burden on a guard doing eight or 12 hours of duty. Third, weapons’ licences issued by the Punjab Home Department allow only 25 cartridges/bullets per weapon. Fourth, where and how will security guards use these cartridges/bullets? We have to keep in mind an important fact that security guards act as deterrence and help keep miscreants off the vulnerable premises. They are not trained to fight dacoits or terrorists. Moreover, because there is no standardisation of weapons in the country, private security companies have to buy weapons from shops who sell the weapons made in tribal areas which are not reliable at all. Therefore, instead of forcing security companies to buy imported weapons, it will be appropriate to make a standardisation authority that oversees the quality of weapons and then security companies can be directed by the government to buy weapons from the vendors listed on the standardised list only.

Engr Sarmad Amir

Rawalpindi