ISLAMABAD - Due to bulk of pending applications for issuing arms licences, the Interior Ministry has stopped the process of receiving new applications for the next two months. An official of the Interior Ministry told TheNation that during January and February, Interior Ministry would not receive new applications for arms licences. He said that during this period only pending applications would be processed. He also requested the people to collect their licences. When asked about the ban, he said that the 2-month long ban was imposed on the direction of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. However, when asked about the number of pending applications, he said that he had not the correct figures. Interior Ministry has fixed a quota for parliamentarians to get arm licences. According to the quota each parliamentarian can get the licences of 20 non-prohibited bore per month and 25 prohibited bore in a year. The parliamentarians have been complaining against the delay in issuance licences while some of them also raised the point in National Assembly. It seems, as the decision of imposing ban on new applications was the result of such complaints. It merits mentioning here that a large number of applications from parliamentarians and general public are pending with the Interior Ministry as earlier there was no fix quota for MNAs, MPAs and Senators. A case had also come on the surface in which some of the officials were reportedly involved in issuing fake arm licences of prohibited bore who were arrested by Federal Investigation Agency.