ISLAMABAD In a high-level meeting in Karachi Tuesday, the federal interior ministry decided to extend the revalidation date of old arms licenses from August 31 to September 30. Earlier, the ministry had set a deadline of August 31 to get the arms licenses revalidated by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). Interior Minister Rehman Malik decided in the meeting that all arms licenses issued by the ministry of interior would stand ceased from September 1. The decision was taken as a part of govts efforts for completely deweaponising Karachi in phases. The matter of revalidation of old arms licenses issued by the ministry of interior was reviewed on Tuesday in a high-level meeting chaired by Rehman Malik at the ministry of interior. The secretary interior, Nadra chairman and other relevant officials attended the meeting. An official handout issued by the ministry says that revalidation deadline has been extended from August 31 to September 30 while all district-level offices of the Nadra will accept requests for revalidation and process arms licenses. The meeting decided that each arm license-holder would bring with himself an original national identity card, original arm license and an application form duly filled in. The new arms licenses will be in the form of specially designed smart cards to overcome the forgery chances. It was also decided in the meeting that only a nominal fee of Rs 500 will be charged from the arms-holder. Earlier, the interior ministry had decided that licenses not issued by the Nadra would be considered cancelled after September 30 and only those arms licenses would be considered valid which would be issued by the Nadra authorities duly authorised by the ministry of interior. Police will recover all the weapons having no valid entry by the Nadra after the deadline. The ministry warned that anybody carrying illegal weapons would be charged under Arms Ordinance 1969 and Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). It is a non-bailable offence with punishment starting from seven years to life imprisonment. The interior ministry also warned the public at large not to carry any illegal weapon and surrender such weapons to the nearest police station voluntarily.