While the United States has been in the headlines last week due to the 27th school shooting occurring this year, killing 19 children and two adults we have overlooked the fact that Pakistan has a gun culture that is publicly encouraged not only amongst the wealthy but even in particular ethnicities or tribes. Despite the fact that aerial gunfire is illegal, it is routinely done in celebration, and with firearms so readily available, flaunting them at weddings has become a fashion statement. Pakistan has witnessed a deadly outcome of this gun culture in the form of repeated violations by young spoiled kids who carry impunity.
On May 26, Thursday police launched an investigation into the murder of 19-year-old Jazlan Faisal Sabir, who was shot dead, and his 20-year-old-friend Shah Mir Ali was wounded allegedly by some youths after a scuffle on the road when the victims raised objections to their reckless late-night bike-riding in Bahria Town Karachi on Wednesday. Before this incident, Pakistan has seen a similar incident in 2012, the murder of Shahzeb Khan by Shahrukh Jatoi and the 2014 murder of Suleman Lashari by his rich classmate and son of senior police officer Salman Abro in DHA. Pakistan has numerous such cases most of which go unreported where women and minorities are killed on daily basis.
Despite that Pakistan has tight gun control laws time and again, innocent people became the victim of such cold-blooded violent murders and the laws stay restricted to paper.
“If there was a mad man whose only ambition was to own more and more weapons to party like Pablo Escobar, Pakistan is probably the country to go to, because gun laws there are an unfunny joke.” writes Somnath in ED Times. Even possessing firearms is not a difficult task in Pakistan despite the tight controls on gun possession. According to a global survey conducted in 2007 by an organization that tracks firearms in society, Pakistan has 20 million privately owned firearms, with a ratio of 11:6 per 100 people. The poll excludes firearms like heavier automatic weapons, such as Kalashnikovs, which have grown so common in our society. On the basis of the number of guns held by its citizens, Pakistan is ranked sixth out of 178 countries. The number of firearms circulating in society is posing a serious threat to society. The extremists in the society believe that they are immune from the justice system and hence, having access to firearms aids their intentions.
“The effect of the many guns is obvious: Pakistan is currently the number one country where the most violent crimes that result in murder occur. This is even more startling once you take into account that reporting and documenting homicide is much less common there compared to the Western world.” – Mohammed Atif
According to Human Rights Watch Report, the annual rate of homicide involving small arms in Pakistan is 9.18% per 100,000 population including 5.03% of female homicides. According to government data, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, 52% of women faced intimate partner violence, while in the Newly Merged Tribal Districts such violence was reported to be 66%. The majority of these incidents involved guns.
Many questions arise when you think of the current unregulated sale and purchase of firearms. What will happen if more young spoiled boys influenced by the “gang” culture decide to settle the disputes with guns instead of the abuses and fists that they normally hurl at each other? When will the laws be tightened and implemented and the rich will be held accountable? How much more do we have to wait till the kids who idealize the US start getting influenced and God forbid the next mass shooting incident could happen in Pakistan?
The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has proposed a total ban on buying and selling of handguns in Canada. He said, “As we see gun violence continue to rise, it is our duty to keep taking action.” The Canadian government has proposed a new law that would freeze private ownership of all short-barreled firearms and make it illegal to buy them. This proposition was initiated one day after the US mass shooting incident. The Prime Minister further added that apart from sports and hunting there is no other reason why Canadian need firearms.
For Pakistan, the recent incident is a reminder that we need to control the access to illegal firearms and move towards a system where there is a license for the ownership of weapons and showing off firearms in public should be highly penalized. Taking inspiration from the Canadian government, not only buying and selling weapons should be banned but a tight check on the ownership of the existing weapons should also be kept. Unlicensed weapons should be revoked and the owners should be punished. It is easy to blame games like PUBG or Call of Duty when in fact the gun culture has been prevailing in Pakistan for ages. Pakistan needs to curtail this gun culture otherwise it is a few steps away from mass shooting incidents like other countries.
