RAWALPINDI, May 14: The government has decided to launch a campaign for the recovery of illegal arms in the next few weeks in tandem with strict enforcement of a ban on public display of weapons, sources said on Wednesday.

A decision to this effect was taken at an inter-provincial meeting, which was held here to review the law and order situation last week, the source said.

The meeting, sources said, was informed that the recovery of 245,047 illicit arms during the last de-weaponization campaign had been far lower than government expectations.

The campaign, which was launched in June 2001 by the then interior minister Lt Gen (Retd) Moinuddin Haider had drained billions of rupees from the national exchequer.

Non-serviceable weapons, sources said, recovered during the campaign, had been publicly destroyed while the serviceable arms were given to the police.

Statistics collected from the interior ministry showed that 141,180 weapons and 848,407 rounds of various ammunitions had been recovered during the nationwide campaign, which lasted between June 21, 2001 and March 12, 2002.

Sources said that the provincial governments had been asked to strictly adhere to the federal government’s policy on issuance of new licences.

However, authorities in the NWFP had informed the interior ministry that the campaign had been restricted to the settled areas and the flow of weapon remained unchecked in absence of a severe punishment for the offence, the source said.

The Sindh government had, during the recent meeting, recommended for adopting a joint strategy and installation of gates at entry points besides calling for enhancement of punishment to make the de-weaponization campaign successful, sources said.

During the meeting, the Balochistan’s chief secretary had blamed the failure of the previous de-weaponization campaign on ineffective control on display of weapons, tribal disputes and the violation of the ban on public display of weapons by the public representatives.

Sources said that 95 per cent of the area in Balochistan had been excluded during the previous campaign, saying that it was impossible to raid houses for the recovery of illicit arms.