Prohibited bore weapons: PHC declares federal govt notification on cancellation of licenses as void

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday declared the federal government notification about cancellation of automatic (prohibited) bore weapons’ licenses issued to the public across the country as void.

A division bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Syed Afsar Shah set aside the Ministry of Interior notification to the public through an advertisement imposing ban on prohibited weapons.

The court passed the verdict in writ petitions filed by lawyers and citizens through their legal counsels Shumail Ahmad Butt, Zahidullah Zahid and Taimur Khan Afridi.

The federal government through the Ministry of Interior on December 26, 2017 gave 36-day deadline to the 90,000 legal weapon holders to get the weapons converted to semi-automatic or sell them to the government for a sum of Rs50,000 each or else the licenses would be cancelled. Besides, the government warned that these weapons would be deemed illegal subject to action against the licence holders.

However, the PHC and Islamabad High Court had stayed implementation of the notification by suspending it till the next orders.

During the hearing, the lawyers submitted that the petitioners were granted computerized licence of prohibited bore by the Nadra for their protection till 2021.

They argued that the federal government lacked jurisdiction after the passage of the 18th amendment to deal with the arms licenses.

They said after devolution of this power to provinces, the federal government notification was illegal and without lawful authority. The lawyers submitted that the petitioners have movable and immovable property and they needed the automatic weapons for protection as sometimes they have to go to far-flung areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Malakand division.

The lawyers pointed out that the law and order situation is poor in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and recently many lawyers and citizens were killed in target killings even in Peshawar.

They argued that the people of Pakistan are under constant attacks of the terrorists who are not even Pakistani nationals and operate from outside Pakistan.

“Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in a war zone and the United Nations Defence (UNDSS) has declared the province and its capital, Peshawar to be in hazardous category 2, and a non-duty station for its staff members,” the petitioners stated.

The petition noted that the tenure of the present government is about to end and it had developed an arms control policy in 2012 and done re-verification of all the weapons across the country at both federal and provincial levels.

It said the federal government on December 26, 2017 issued a general order suspending all the licences of prohibited bore granted by the Ministry of Interior.

The petitioners said the present notification is unlawful and without lawful authority and thus be declared as void.