THE fact that our lawmakers — many of whom have served in high government positions — have to own weapons worth millions of rupees for their ‘protection’, speaks volumes for the state of security for the common man. According to a report in this newspaper on Thursday, a total of 89 provincial and national members, and 10 senators, have declared in their assets filed for the year 2018 their ownership of multiple prohibited and non-prohibited weapons that include G-3 battle rifles, submachine guns and Kalashnikovs. These legislators are people who have power and privilege at their disposal. Yet, instead of working to regulate the flow of arms and improving the state of security in the country, they take advantage of their position to obtain weapons for themselves. Where social realities are concerned, this reveals the disparity between the common man and the powerful elite. It also shows the mistrust that these legislators have for the very state machinery/system of which they are a part.

As per a report by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, there were around 44m legal and illegal civilian-owned weapons in Pakistan by the end of 2017, the number being the fourth highest in the world. Furthermore, the ownership of military-owned guns stood at 2.3m while weapons owned by law-enforcement agencies numbered a paltry 944,000. The total value of declared arms imports in the country, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, was around Rs6m for the year 2018 — about Rs10m less than the value declared by former president Asif Ali Zardari for the ownership of various types of unspecified weapons. It is an open secret that the process and regulations surrounding gun licensing have many loopholes that have, on several occasions, been exploited by terrorists and anti-state actors. It is, hence, deeply unfortunate that the abuse of power by federal and provincial lawmakers in terms of the responsible use and declaration of weapons sets such a bad precedent for both the public and those intending harm.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2019