Sindh tops list of MPAs with declared firearms.

Byline: Iftikhar A. Khan

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...