KARACHI, Aug 9: Expressing concern over the presence of a huge number of illegal weapons across the province, particularly in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah noted on Tuesday that on an average 20 such arms were being recovered daily whereas 4,000 illegal arms had been seized this year.

This was stated by official sources after a meeting presided over by the Sindh chief minister at which various options for deweaponising the city were discussed.

Mr Shah said all political parties were united on the issue of deweaponising.

It was decided that a letter would be written to the federal government to seek its guidance for curbing the menace of trafficking and use of illicit arms.

The meeting was also informed that to date 191,780 licences had been issued in Sindh.

Between 2001 and 2008, 150,000 licences were issued in the province.

It was suggested that all licences should be scrutinised and for this purpose the Sindh home department had already initiated a computerised system at a cost of Rs17.5 million, and the smart card scheme might be launched at the provincial level.