My respects for the emotions and motivation of your friend, but what an absolutely rediculous idea. Civil Militia! and what happens when they get out of control?
Knowing my friend, I can assure that he didn't mean that every living moron in the country is given a green signal to purchase assault rifles. Point was to provide the people with the necessary equipment and basic training under FULL check of the Military (also known as Organized Militia's) so that IF one day (God forbid) our forces aren't able to tackle the rising wave of TTP, they simply don't sit around in their homes waiting to get flogged and butchered by the hands of the extremists.
All this energy spent on "revenge" and what happens? the country bathes in blood. If you're so ticked, do what the forefathers did and rise. Civil militias... seriously, do we want to become an African nation? "Forget Japan, our role model is Sudan!"
The modern day beacon of 'Freedom' and 'Democracy', the United States, formed it's 'National Guard' and 'Air National Guard' on the same principles of the Militia's from the past dating back to 1903.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Guard
Who can join the 'Modern Day' American Militia's? Here's an extract from the wikipedia article on U.S Militia's. Notice how the word 'Militia' is still being used in the 21st century.
The reserve militia/unorganized militia
All able bodied men, 17 to 45 of age, are ultimately eligible to be called up into military service and belong to the class known as the Reserve Militia, also known as the unorganized militia. Able bodied men who are not eligible for inclusion in the unorganized militia pool are those aliens not having declared their intent to become citizens of the United States (10 USC 311) and former regular component veterans of the armed forces who have reached the age of 64 (32 USC 313). All female citizens who are members of National Guard units are also included in the unorganized militia pool (10 USC 311).
You don't have to live in
Sudan to realize that you may require a force of the people as a last resort one day to stand shoulder to shoulder with the army in times of a crisis.
Furthermore, The Iranian 'Basij' paramilitary force has the same induction process as the U.S national guard on SOME levels. A strong force of 12 million strong (Actual numbers are claimed to be 20 million by the Iranian leadership) is available at their convenience. Almost all of Basij members are trained by the Military in basic combat skills but not ALL of them carry weapons. Only 25% of them carry weapons such as AK-47 simply because IF a crisis arises, they can be armed by the Basij Organization centres which are spread out in every city of the country.
Firepower in the hands of ticked-off teenagers bent on destruction. We all know Power corrupts, but firepower kills.
Like I said, firearms in such a scenario will only be provided when there's a strong requirement to defend a particular city/district. The organizational centres in every city would provide guidance and would help keep a check on all the members.
"If they send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue."
What is this, the feudal age?
IMO, I'd rather see ten armed militants hell bent on killing innocent Pakistani's dead in a morgue than see 10 of our civilians struggling for their lives in a hospital because of a suicide blast.
Lastly, I would like to say that if such an organization existed in our society, gun-totting terrorists wouldn't have had a chance OR the GUTS to stand so proudly in the centre of our cultural city Lahore and use a foreign cricket team as target practice. Hypothetically speaking of course, if such an organization existed, early response teams from every district would've been dispatched to handle the situation, leaving the terrorist surrounded by the people's force. Just my two cents.