Pakistan pursuing UN agenda to eradicate illicit Small Arms
By Saba Imran 'Pakistan Times' Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is proactively implementing in letter and spirit the UN mandate for all countries to combat and eradicate illicit small arms and light weapons, said the country’s delegate to a UN conference in New York.

Director General Ministry of Interior Brig. (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema addressed the UN conference held last week to review progress made in the implementation of world body’s Programme of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit arms trade.

Cheema submitted two comprehensive national reports laying out in detail the national policy framework and actions taken by Islamabad.

He however pointed out that there were areas where more could be done by nations collectively and called for further deliberations to enable all states to evolve “common understanding and agreement.”

The delegate said five years ago the adoption of the Programme of Action (PoA) by UN represented a political commitment by all states to address concerns arising from the illicit arms trade.

“Today, we reaffirm that commitment to fully implement the PoA and we shall work constructively with other delegations on the basis of this mandate.” he observed.

He said the PoA outlined a broad range of actions to be taken by states at the national, regional and international levels.

Cheema said a vast majority of states have reported progress in putting together various legislative and administrative frameworks.

Large numbers of illicit weapons have been collected and destroyed, the security of stockpile management has been enhanced and record-keeping controls over exports have been improved, he said.

“Above all, an enhanced level of public and government awareness has been achieved to understand and address the multi-faceted and complex nature of trade in illicit small arms and light weapons,” he said.

Cheema said challenges remain and one of the “key” challenge was the “continuing lack of adequate provision of financial and technical assistance, particularly to developing countries.”

“It is the lack of an effective international assistance and cooperation framework which has prevented a large majority of states to draw up necessary legislation and implement administrative procedures.”

It was primarily for this reason that capacity building of security and law enforcement and border control agencies of a number of countries lagged behind and the larger issues of underdevelopment and poverty remain un-addressed,he said.

Cheema said as long as conflicts and disputes fester and solutions to them are not found, the demand for weapons will remain strong.

“Pakistan attaches great importance to keeping the consensus spirit with which the small arms issues have so far been treated and agreed,” he said.●