KARACHI, June 4: The campaign launched for the recovery of illegal weapons under the government’s de-weaponization process will complete its first year on June 5.

During this period, some 154,000 illegal weapons were recovered from the country, making Pakistan the third country of the world with an outstanding weapons’ recovery rate.

This was stated by the interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, while replying to newsmen’s questions at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the National Aliens Registration Authority, marking the start of the issuance of ID cards to registered immigrants living in Karachi.

Describing the recovery of such a large number of illegal weapons as “not an ordinary achievement,” Moinuddin Haider said that people from whom illegal weapons were recovered were also getting punishment.

He pointed out that within 15 days of the amnesty period given at the start of the de-weaponization drive, some 88,000 weapons were voluntarily surrendered.

He said that one could judge the significance of weapons’ recovery from a report given by the French Ambassador which showed that only 28,000 weapons were recovered from arms-infested Bosnia and 3,000 to 4,000 from Kosovo.

To a question about accountability, he said that it has proved a significant success as the banks’ loans against defaulters amounting to Rs100 billion have been restructured and instalments have started coming in.

During the across-the-board accountability process carried out, some Rs1 billion have been recovered, Mr Haider pointed out.

As regards the government success in tax collection, the interior minister said that for quite some time, the previous governments used to collect taxes to the tune of Rs200 billion, which rose to Rs300 billion during the last 8-10 years. However, during the last 2 years, the present government increased the tax collection to Rs400 billion.

To a question about the government’s performance on the issue of General Sales Tax, Moinuddin Haider pointed out that after the abolition of Octroi, the government, in order to compensate the municipal bodies, decided to pay 2.5 per cent of the GST levied to them.

The Capital City Police Officer, Asad Jehangir, was also present.—APP