Pak Interior Ministry officials tampered with records to carry out 'arms licence scam'

Islamabad, Aug. 5 (ANI): A preliminary investigation in Pakistan's arms licence scam has revealed that Interior Ministry officials tampered with records to issue licences of prohibited weapons.

The Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Interior, Abdul Qadir Patel, confirmed that the ministry's officials were involved in the scam, The Dawn reports.

Explaining the mechanism of the scam, an official involved in the probe said, if a parliamentarian got the recommendation from the competent authority for 10 licences, the ministry's officials would add four or five names and after the release of demand note they would attach forged bank receipts with the application and get the licences issued.

Before June 26, when a ban was imposed on issuing licences for prohibited weapons, the arms wing of the interior ministry had been receiving four to five dozen applications a day with recommendations from the competent authority.

The prime minister, who was the licensing authority, had delegated the powers - to Minister of State for Interior Tasneem Qureshi

A woman parliamentarian told the paper that she had got recommendation for a licence, but names of three other people were added to her application and they also got the licences.

"When I submitted another application for four licences, my file was misplaced by the ministry's officials, obviously to issue licences to some other people. I complained about it, but nothing happened," she said. (ANI)