Toy Guns Banned in 2 Pakistan Cities

Toy guns have been banned in the cities of Peshawar and Kohat in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to discourage the growing trend of arms and violence among the children.

Deputy commissioner of Kohat Kamran Afridi said he had imposed an immediate ban on the sale of toy weapons.

The ban was aimed to keep children from use of toy weapons as the practice lead them to violence and crimes in later stages of life, he said.

"The practice has left a negative impact on the society as in 65 per cent cases children tend to buy guns and pistols instead of other toys like cars and helicopters," Afridi was quoted as saying by Dawn News.

Afridi said he had directed the district police to start cleanup operation in bazaars against such toys.

Shopkeepers, however, criticised the step and said it would badly affect their business, specially if the crackdown was started before Eid when they had enormous business in toy arms.

Last week, the district administration of Peshawar had also announced a month-long ban on anyone selling or carrying toy guns during Eid festivities.

"The basic purpose behind the ban on the sale of toy guns is to discourage growing trend of arms and violence among the children," Deputy Police Commissioner Riaz Khan Mahsud told NBC News.

Peshawar is the regional capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province surrounded by tribal areas that have been ravaged by violence involving the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The city was also the scene of an attack by Taliban militants on an army school in December that left almost 150 people, mostly students, dead. Earlier this year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had given firearms training to teachers and permitted them to take guns into classrooms after the incident. However, the move attracted widespread criticism.