Karachi—National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) would help the provinces in computerization of their manual arm 
licenses to curb incidents of lawlessness. Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik on Sunday said the authorities in Punjab, Sindh, AJK and Giglit-Baltistan have expressed their willingness to conduct process of computerization of arm licenses for them which has been envisioned to ensure transparency and to check illegal weapons. Talking to APP, Tariq Malik said the Authority is currently engaged in computerization of arm licenses which were issued by Ministry of Interior for which September 30 has been fixed as last date for submission of forms.
The Authority has not yet received any request from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, he said, added “we have state of-the-art infrastructure and trained and qualified manpower to develop and manage Arms License Management System and we are even ready to provide our services to the provinces.
Responding to a question, the Deputy Chairman said response of people for computerization of their arm licenses is very good and they are visiting the 158 designated centres across the country to get their work done.
He said to complete the task during stipulated time separate counters have been set-up in designated centres to facilitate the license holders.
Of the total, 13 counters have been established in Multan, 30 in Quetta, 14 in Lahore, 10 in Sargodha, 32 Peshawar, 24 in Islamabad, 11 in Hyderabad, 10 in Sukkur, 13 in Karachi while some centres have also been set-up in other cities under the arms license project. Although NADRA is processing arms licenses on behalf of the interior ministry, the approval of each license application is the sole discretion of the ministry. NADRA is only processing those applications which have the approval of the ministry. Original Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) and original licenses (along with photocopies) are prerequisite for the revalidation along with application form available at centres and the interior ministry. Card renewal fee of Rs.1100 for Prohibited Bore License and Rs. 600 for Non-Prohibited Bore license is being charged along with any payable in respect of government license renewal fee due.
The original arms license booklet, retained by NADRA, will be forwarded to interior ministry for post verification.—APP
