ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: The interior ministry has issued licences of prohibited and legal weapons to some 10,555 people including parliamentarians, doctors, lawyers and leaders of political and religious organizations during the last two years. As per information from the interior ministry, in the last two years, atleast 309 licences of banned weapons and 10,246 licences of legal weapons have been issued.

The report placed Punjab top on the list as total of 8,433 licences were issued to it, Sindh stood second with 865 licences, the NWFP third with 1,183 licences and Balochistan remained at fourth with 74 arms licences.

Former interior minister Moinuddin Haider had imposed ban on issuance of licences in the tenure of President Gen Pervez Musharraf but the ban was lifted by incumbent Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao.—Online