ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa stated that the country needed to abolish “Kalashnikov culture”.He made the statements when a three-member bench, led by CJP Isa and including justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali, heard the post-arrest bail application of a defendant in a case involving the theft of weapons from a house.The suspect, Kashif, was charged under sections 395 (penalty for dacoity) and 412 (dishonestly obtaining stolen property while committing a dacoity) of the Pakistan Penal Code.During the hearing, lawyers Shabbir Hussain Gigyani and Muhammad Tariq Khan appeared in court.CJP Isa sent notifications to Pakistan’s Attorney General, Mansoor Usman Awan, the interior ministry’s secretary, as well as the home secretaries, police chiefs, and advocate generals of all provinces, requesting information on the number of licenses issued nationwide for prohibited weapons.The court subsequently approved Kashif’s request and granted him post-arrest bail in the amount of Rs50,000 in surety bonds.In August of last year, the government prohibited the issue of arms licenses. However, in November, the public in Punjab was permitted to apply for and get firearms licenses.At the start of the hearing, Justice Isa stated that the individual whose house the firearms were stolen from was not even requested to provide the licenses.
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“The owner admits to the crime personally. The CJP stated that “two Kalashnikovs, two Kalakovs, and a pistol, among other valuables, were stolen.”The top judge also stated that he had been “offered” a permit to purchase Kalashnikovs, and that the weapon and narcotics had “destroyed” Pakistan. “No one across the world roams around in this manner in huge cars with tinted glasses and carrying Kalashnikovs,” Isa said.Justice Isa stated that he would write to the interior ministry’s secretary to “return all Kalashnikovs and their licences.”
