PESHAWAR, June 15: “Pakistan should ratify the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to control sale and spread of small arms, which pose a huge threat in the prevailing poor law and order situation in the country.”

Speakers at a seminar on ‘Global action week against small arms violence’ said this here on Friday.

The government should also establish a commission to stop gun violence and fulfil its commitment made at the World Summit in 2005, they said.

Pakistan was yet to fulfil its promise made at the UN meeting in 2001 on the programme of action against small arms, said Qamar Naseem, project coordinator of a non-governmental organisation, Blue Veins, which conducted the seminar.

The campaign of ‘arms control’ was launched by Oxfam, Amnesty International, International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Blue Veins and other NGOs to create awareness about the misuse of small arms.

Data collected by IANSA revealed that 1,000 people died each day due to violence related to small arms, around the globe.

Since January 2007, 163,000 people became victim of small arms. About 75 million small arms were present in South Asia, quoted Mr Naseem.