Page 23 - Tehelka Issue 15 August 2018

kashmir

fake licenses procured
n investigation Licenses system in April
carried over next year and provide each
months by the from J&k help buy illegal license holder a unique iden-
Anti-Terror tification number (UIN) for
A Squads (ATS) renewal and other purposes.
of Rajasthan and Madhya weapons in many states It will be mandatory for
Pradesh has revealed that the all licensing authorities in
fake arms licenses procured Around 40,000 fake arms licenses have the country to enter data in
from J&K have led to the pro- the new system, any arms
liferation of illegal weapons been issued in Jammu and Kashmir in past license without UIN would be
across several states. In the six years, reports Riyaz Wani considered invalid.
past six years alone, around “In case a person applying
40,000 licenses have been of Kishtwar, Kupwara, Gan- arms and ammunition with for a license for restricted
issued in the state. derbal, Leh, Rajouri, Ramban, the officer in charge of the category of arms or ammuni-
The reason for this is Reasi and Udhampur have nearest police station, failing tion was also a holder of a
that it is not difficult to get been asked not to issue any which action as warranted license for permissible cat-
a license in the state, if you new individual arms license under law will be initiated”. egory, or where the applicant
fake the identity of a security till further orders. The probe has brought applying for permissible
personnel: that is, produce a And also the district under its scanner the district category of arms or am-
forged letter from a com- magistrates in the state have magistrates from the various munition was also a holder
manding officer of an army been directed to take urgent districts which have wit- of a license for restricted
unit and use a picture in the steps to revoke all such “indi- nessed the issuance of the category, the licensing au-
application form wearing vidual arms licenses issued most of the licenses. thority concerned shall issue
an army uniform and grease to various persons excluding “It is true that the district a new license for restricted or
the palms of the concerned the personnel of State Police, level officers are involved in permissible category of arms
officials. Army and Central Armed the scam,” said a State Vigi- or ammunition under the
What is more, most of Police Forces (CAPFs), which lance Organization official. existing UIN of the licensee,”
these licenses have not been don’t meet all the conditions “The investigation will pin the the government notification
issued to the J&K residents prescribed in Rule 11 and Rule responsibility and help bring has mentioned.
but to the outsiders. This, in 12 of the Arms Rules, 2016”. the guilty to justice.” However, it is still around
turn, has triggered an illegal According to sources, in The lid on the scam was a year to go before the data-
arms trade in some states the past year alone, 5000 blown off after the Rajasthan base is created. And it would
with thousands of people arms licenses have been ATS launched the ‘Operation be a painstaking process to
possessing arms on fake issued in the state, two-thirds Jubeida’ in May last year into provide each licensed item
documents. Alarm bells so of which are fake. The state the inter-state arms racket a UIN. But the problem now
triggered have led to investi- has issued a total of 4,29,301 involved in procuring fake is tracing the illegal weap-
gations by Madhya Pradesh licenses and only 10 per cent arms licenses from J&K. ons procured through fake
and Rajasthan ATS who are of the number are for the J&K Alerted by the scale of the licenses in J&K.
trying to reveal the extent of residents. illegal weapons trade, centre “There are two dimen-
the scam. J&K Government’s order has also moved to launch a sions to the problem. One is
The J&K government also requires the district National Database of Arms fixing the responsibility of
too has started a probe to magistrates to ensure “all the officials for issuance of
be carried out by the State such persons, whose licenses • arm charm Last year, 5000 arms fake licenses. Another is seiz-
Vigilance Organisation. The are revoked, to deposit their licenses were issued in J&K ing the consequent illegally
state’s home department bought arms,” said an official.
has ordered the divisional “The simultaneous inves-
commissioners of Kashmir tigation into the scam in
and Jammu regions to verify several states has, however,
all cases of individual new created sufficient realisation
arms licenses issued between of the need to take urgent
January 1, 2017, to February corrective measures. And we
23, 2018, in eight districts of hope we could get a handle
the state. on it in near future.”
And pending this verifica-
tion, the district magistrates letters@tehelka.com