Permission for tax-free shotgun import sought

KARACHI: National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) has requested Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination to allow duty-free import of shotgun and cartridges for Usman Chand who aims to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In a letter to Dr Fahmida Mirza, Executive Vice President NRAP Javaid S Lodhi has said that Usman was a talented shooter who could win an Olympic Quota for Pakistan and bring laurels to the country with some support from the government.

“In the recently held Asian Games, Usman Chand scored 122 points out of 125 in the main qualification round of Skeet event, missing the Asian record by only one point,” said Javaid, adding that in the process he was able to beat the bronze medalists of 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

He added that the government should allow the import of a shotgun for him without payment of customs duty, regulatory duty and other taxes.

Also, permission should be given for the import of 50,000 skeet shotgun cartridges per year for the next two years, without customs duty, regulatory duty and other taxes, he said.

Usman being a civilian shotgun shooter, who has been national champion for the last four years in skeet event, has to bear most of the cost of his training himself — close to Rs4 million a year.

Javaid stated that Usman does not have a shotgun of required standard for doing well at the international level as his gun is about 10 years old and of an inferior model. He has been using a new model shotgun borrowed from Pakistan Navy for the last four months. He has to return it next month.

Javaid said that skeet shooting (shotgun clay bird) was an expensive sport. Both the shotgun and ammunition are very costly and beyond the means of Usman. “Despite our very limited resources, Pakistani shooters have been qualifying for the last five Olympics,” Javaid said.

He added that Ghulam Mustafa Bashir scored 583 points out of 600 in Rapid Fire Pistol event in the World Shooting Championship in South Korea this year. “He achieved 7th position in the world in the said category while Muhammad Khalil Akhtar scored 579 points out of 600 in the same event to claim 18th position in the world,” said Javaid.

He said that Bashir and Khalil belonged to Navy and Army, respectively, and so had the necessary arms and ammunition. Javaid said that NRAP expected Usman, Bashir and Khalil to gain Olympic quota places for Tokyo Olympics. “For Olympic quota, we shall ensure their participation in at least four international Quota Places events during the next one year,” stated Javaid.