Caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh Maqbool Baqar has ordered to halt the issuance of arms licenses across the province.
Acting on the directive, the Interior Secretary issued a notification imposing a ban on new arms licenses. The decision was taken after an investigation revealed that an active network is providing guns to criminals on rent.
Investigators have discovered traces of new weapons in the recent street crimes and target killings. According to reports, shells of bullets found at the crime scenes don’t match the weapons used in previous offenses.
The police and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) have so far failed to prepare a comprehensive report on the street crimes in the city.  Now, federal investigation agencies are looking into these matters, having arrested multiple suspects.
In recent months, Karachi has witnessed a massive increase in street crimes. According to data compiled by Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), over 50 Karachiites lost their lives in the month of August this year.
Similarly, last month, 62 people were killed in different street crimes across the city. Furthermore, citizens were deprived of 207 vehicles, 5,399 motorcycles, and 2,464 mobile phones during the month.
Recently, Atiq Mir, Chairman of All Karachi Trade Union, called for the intervention of the Pakistan Army to control street crimes in the city.
It is worth mentioning here that due to rising street crimes in the province particularly in Karachi and other big cities of Sindh and poor performance of police to control the crime citizens are opting to have arms for self-defense and in this regard number of applicants for arms licenses in the province are increasing day to day.
