Carrying, displaying firearms banned till Jan 9

The home ministry in a gazette notification has imposed a complete ban on licence holders from carrying and displaying firearms till January 9, ahead of the 12th parliamentary elections scheduled for January 7.

A gazette notification signed by Israt Jahan, deputy secretary of the ministry, was issued in this regard yesterday.

However, the notification said the decision has been taken to conduct the upcoming national polls "in a free, fair, and peaceful manner", and action would be taken against violators of the order as per law.

According to the database of the police's special branch, the number of legal weapons in the country is 50,310. Of these firearms, 45,226 weapons are in the hands of individuals and 5,084 are with institutions.