Of private arms

Self-protection is a citizen's right which no one can deny, and which everyone has the right to ensure, through legal means. It is thus that the right to possess authorised arms for personal security has been guaranteed in a free society.

What is of concern, however, is the utter lack of control and oversight in respect of issue and record of private weapons, on the part of the authority concerned. The fact that a large number of weapons or their owners are untraceable demonstrates the poor state of control and check in this regard. A large proportion of these arms, reportedly, has been issued on political consideration. Many of the licences were issued without proper verification. In fact, a near anarchy prevails regarding issue of valid licence for private arms.

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Our concern stems primarily from the report that out of a total of 1 lakh 89 thousand licensed weapons in the country, as many as 1 lakh 35 thousand are untraceable. Some of these have also gone missing from some government organisations. It is feared that many of these might have found their way into the hands of criminals and anti-state elements.

It merits repetition that proliferation of weapons in Bangladesh has had the most destabilising impact on the society, which has taken a heavy toll of lives and caused severe deterioration of law and order. The UN and other organisations, taken up with the issue of proliferation of small arms, have identified administrative slack in this regard as one of the major contributors to diffusion of illegal weapons.

Given that this fact was evidenced sometimes ago, the government should have acted with promptitude to get to the bottom of the matter of untraceable arms. Equally important is the need for the government to be more innovative in bringing about a regimen of strict control and oversight on this matter in an objective and non-partisan manner.