ISLAMABAD: If the declarations made by lawmakers in their statements of assets are to be believed, the number of members of the Sindh Assembly having weapons is almost twice that of the members of the other three provincial assemblies put together who possess arms.
An analysis of the statements of assets submitted by lawmakers for 2018 shows that out of the 71 members of the four provincial assemblies to have declared that they own weapons, 47 are from Sindh Assembly while 24 are from the other three provincial legislatures put together.
As low as 10 members of the Punjab Assembly, eight from Balochistan Assembly and six from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KP) Assembly have declared that they own weapons.
Curiously, none of the recently elected members of the KP Assembly from erstwhile FATA has declared that he owns weapons in the details of assets submitted with their nomination papers.
The statistics are contrary to the popular perception that the culture of KP and Balochistan is heavily influenced by guns.
Analysts believe that the conspicuously small number of arms declared by legislators from KP and Balochistan, and even Punjab, does not reflect reality. They attributed it to the practice by many individuals, legislators included, to have arms licences in the name of private guards.
Possession of unlicensed weapons by lawmakers cannot be ruled out, they added.
The PPP’s Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio, an MPA from Sindh, tops the list with possession of arms worth Rs 6 million.
He is followed by Sharjeel Inam Memon, a former Sindh information minister, who possesses weapons worth Rs 2.5m.
The other 10 members of Sindh Assembly who have weapons worth over Rs 1m _ all from PPP — include former home minister Mir Nadir Ali Magsi (Rs 1.8m), Ali Hasan (Rs 1.7m), former president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur (Rs 1.48m, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla (Rs 1.5m each).
Jam Awais Bijar Hussain Jokhio owns weapons valued at Rs 1.25m, but the amount does not take into account the worth of inherited weapons.
Burhan Chandio has weapons worth Rs 1.2m while Hizbullah Bughio and Abdul Karim Soomro have weapons worth Rs 1m each.
Malik Asad Sikandar possesses as many as 24 weapons, including 19 rifles, three shot guns and two pistols. The total value of these weapons was put at Rs 1m.
Jam Khan Shoro has four weapons valued at over Rs 1m. He has three rifles, one of which is prohibited (7.62) bore, and one pistol.
Hasnain Ali Mirza (GDA), son of Federal Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza, has an unspecified number of ‘fire guns’ valued at Rs 846,000. Moazzam Ali Abbasi (GDA), a nephew of former PPP senator Safdar Abbasi, possesses weapons worth Rs 810,000 while Muhammad Sajid of PPP has guns valued at Rs 800,000.
PPP’s Noor Ahmad Bhurgari holds as many as 13 weapons, including three rifles, five shotguns and five pistols of an unspecified bore. He has not mentioned the net worth of these arms.
Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani, the Sindh Minister for Mines and Mineral Development, has 12 unspecified type of inherited and purchased weapons worth over half a million rupees. Rana Hamir Singh of PPP has 10 weapons, including four rifles, five pistols and one shotgun, all valued at Rs 700,000.
Khan Muhammad Dahri of the same party has seven weapons, including rifles, shot guns and pistols. One of the two pistols he holds is American Ruger pistol.
Abdul Razzak Rahimoon of GDA has two rifles, one of which is prohibited bore, two shot guns and two pistols. He had purchased the prohibited bore rifle at a government depot for just Rs 2,520.
Faqir Sher Muhammad Bilalani of PPP has five weapons, including two riflesq and the other 22 bore, two shot guns one of which is 12 bore and the other 22 bore. He has a 22 bore pistol as well.
Suhail Anwar Siyal, the provincial minister for anti-corruption, has mentioned an unspecified number and type of weapons in his personal belongings worth Rs 8.46 million. Energy minister Mir Mumtaz Hussain Khan has also included has also included weapons in his other assets valued at Rs2m.
Haleem Adil Sheikh of PTI has put the value of arms, ammunition and agricultural machinery he owns at Rs 0.932 million.
Others prominent in the list of Sindh Assembly members possessing arms include Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Sheikh, Information Minister Saeed Ghani, provincial minister Jam Madad Ali and Tariq Alim, special assistant to the chief minister.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
In KP Assembly Muhammad Laiq Khan tops the list of those holding weapons valued at at Rs 4 million or more. Provincial Minister Akbar Ayub Khan has three weapons, including repeater rifle, a 30 bore pistol and a 9 mm Glock pistol. PTI’s Arshad Ayub Khan has nine weapons including three rifles., two shot guns and four pistols, one of which is Russian Makarov.
Mahmood Jan, deputy speaker of the KP Assembly, Amjad Khan Afridi and Taj Muhammad are the three others on the list of those possessing weapons.
Balochistan
In Balochistan Assembly as many as eight members have weapons. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran has 13 kalashnikov rifles, while Mir Ziaullah of BAP has six weapons. Syed Ehsan Shah of BNP-A has five gifted kalashnikov rifles.
Punjab
Ten members of the Punjab Assembly have weapons. Samsam Bukhari of PTI has an unspecified number of rifles and shot guns — all either gifted or inherited. Sardar Awais Khan Leghari has a good number of inherited firearms while Muhammad Arshad Javed has five unspecified weapons.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2019
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