ISLAMABAD - The arms license section of the Ministry of Interior will be devolved to provinces till June 30 as a result of the 18th Amendment, however, the federal government wants to retain its powers to issue prohibited bores arms licenses with it and three provinces have agreed over it except Punjab. However, the Ministry of Interior will continue to issue arms licenses, both prohibited bores (PB) and non-prohibited bores (NPB) only in the names of residents of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The ministry in its recent correspondence with the Prime Minister Secretariat has proposed to PM Yousuf Raza Gilani that PB arms licenses portion of the arms licenses section should be retained with the federal government through the 20th Amendment, sources aware of the development informed The Nation. Under the law, the Federal Interior Ministry will cease to issue any kind of arms licenses, both PB and NPB after the 30 June except for the residents of ICT. After the passage of 18th Amendment, the powers of the federal government as well as Ministry of Interior to issue arms licenses, both prohibited and non-prohibited, were to be transferred to provinces as arms licenses were part of the Concurrent List. Under this Amendment, the federal government has to devolve all the items present in the Concurrent List to the provinces unless it could not introduce a new constitutional amendment on the specific subject. However, the federal government had earlier decided to retain the powers to issue PB licenses with it and had asked the Ministry of Interior to have provinces view point on the matter, the sources in the Ministry of Interior informed. An official of the ministry on the condition of anonymity informed this scribe that the ministry had written letters to all the provinces to have their consent on the issue. He further informed that all the three provinces have agreed that federal government should continue to issue PB licenses except Punjab. We are waiting for the reply of Punjab on the issue, he further said. He was of the view that either the issue should be placed before the Council of Common Interests (CCI) or the matter can be resolved through the constitutional amendment. Under the current arrangement, arms license section of the Ministry of Interior had two portions i.e. prohibited bores (PB) and non-prohibited bores (NPB). The powers to issue PB licenses rest with the Prime Minister while Secretary Interior and Federal Interior Minister by virtue of its portfolio had the authority to issue NPB licenses. A committee comprising of officials of the ministry looks into any application of PB licenses before sending it to the Prime Minister Secretariat for approval. National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) processes all the arms licenses, both PB and NPB, after getting approval from PM in case of PB licenses and from the ministry in case of NPB arms licenses through the Ministry of Interior.