Importers flood country with illegal arms

RAWALPINDI: Non-implementation of the changes approved by the PPP government in the arms and ammunitions import policy a year ago has flooded the country with contraband arms, Dawn has learnt. A senior security official said the law enforcement agencies were worried that importers had been bringing in and marketing small as well as sophisticated weapons by manipulating the existing policy introduced in 2006-07. That policy put a monetary ceiling, ranging between Rs100,000 and Rs20 million, on commercial arms importers. But, by under-invoicing their imports, the crafty among the 520 arms dealers in the country brought in more quantity of weapons than their monetary quota would buy them in the international arms market. They landed their consignments at different ports so that the customs there cleared their huge consignments in excess to their monetary quota uncontested, according to sources in the security and commercial establishments. In its last cabinet meeting held on March 7, 2013, the outgoing PPP-led government approved amendments to that policy. It changed the value-based imports to quantity-based imports of arms. However, despite concerns raised by the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Board of Revenue over the developing alarming situation and loss of revenue, the successor PML-N government did not give a comprehensive shape to the changes and enforce them. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rasheed was contacted for comments. He said he would be in a position to do so after consulting the concerned departments. Early this year, the Inspector General of Police of Punjab had formally directed all divisional police chiefs of the province to check the sharp rise in smuggling of arms and ammunitions. IGP Khan Baig wanted them to constitute special teams to stop the menace in coordination with the district authorities, initiate legal action against the arms dealers found involved in arms trafficking and report him compliance. IGP Baig asked his officers to check whether people working for licensed arms dealers had been cleared by the local secret police and whether a police officer had verified the dealer’s record of his sales and buyers. His orders had followed intelligence reports that smuggling of illegal arms and ammunitions was on the rise in the province and weapons were easily available to criminals. The Pakistan Arms Ordinance 1965 requires that a police officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent should inspect shops, premises and stocks of all licensed manufacturers and dealers of arms every three months and a Superintendent of Police at least once a year.