Homeland Security

Small Arms Proliferation in the Northeast: The Chinese Connection - II
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Issue Courtesy: Aakrosh | Date : 28 Jun , 2011

Conclusion

In sum, China is the primary origin of arms and grenades that are released and distributed through a network highly systematic and discreet, with little evidence to pinpoint Beijing’s role. Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand, to an extent, are the routes for small arms. A wide cross-section of people in these countries and the Northeast, including government officials, militants and the mafia, benefits from the small arms proliferation, which seems to have grown in volume in the last decade. New Delhi must have a comprehensive and holistic policy on small arms.

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Moreover, there is an urgent need to expand the definition of small arms to include grenades. Small arms proliferation is not confined to the Northeast but is reaching mainland India as well. But security forces and agencies have not been able to comprehend the gravity of the problem, and this is the reason for the lack of awareness about its dangerous implications. Furthermore, little effort has been made so far for a serious dialogue on the issue with neighbouring countries. Therefore, the possibility of a decrease in the inflow of small arms and grenades looks remote in the near future.

Notes and References

  1. Adopted by United Nations General Assembly on 8 December 2005 and included in the International Instrument to enable states to identify and trace, in a timely and reliable manner, illicit small arms and light weapons.
  2. Application filed by the author under the Right to Information Act with Assam Police on 25 June 2009.
  3. Pradeep Phanjoubam’s remark in the seminar on small arms proliferation held at Omeo Kumar Das Institute for Social Change and Development, Guwahati, on 18 June 2009.
  4. Mandy Turner and Bina Lakshmi Nepram. “The Impact of Armed Violence in North East India: A Mini Case Study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative.” Centre for International Cooperation and Security. November 2004.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Interview with a director in the MHA on 3 January 2008.
  7. Small arms survey by Graduate Institute of International Studies. Geneva. 2006.
  8. These letters of the alphabet were seen on some AK-56 rifles with UPDS cadres at Rongbin in Karbi Anglong and with UKLF cadres at Sinai in Chandel.
  9. Subir Bhaumik. Troubled Periphery; Crisis of India’s North East. Sage Publications, 2009. 
  10. Interview with ULFA militants and intelligence officials in 2004 after Operation All Clear in Bhutan in December 2003. 
  11. Interview with Mrinal Hazarika (former commandant of ULFA’s 28th Battalion) on 2 November 2008 and Lengbat Ingleng (defence secretary of UPDS) on 31 January 2008.
  12. PLA commander-in-chief Manohar Mayum spoke about the alliance with naxalites to journalists in one of their camps on the Indo-Myanmar Border near Ukhrul in Manipur on 4 May 2009.
  13. Interview with a joint secretary in the Research & the Analysis Wing (R&AW) on 5 December 2007.
  14. Subir Bhaumik. “Guns, Drugs & Rebels.” 29 June 2005. <http://www.india-seminar.com/2005/550/550%20subir%20bhaumik.htm> (accessed 18 September 2010).
  15. Times Now. “Serial Blasts Rock Assam.” 30 October 2008.
  16. Anthony Davis. “Law & Disorder: A Growing Torrent of Guns and Narcotics Overwhelms China. Asiaweek, 25 August 1995.
  17. Liana Sun Wyler. “Transnational Crime in Burma.” CRS Report for Congress. 29 July 2008.
  18. Tom Kramer. “The United Wa State Party: Narco-Army or Ethnic Nationalist Party?” Policy Studies 38. East-West Center, 2007.
  19. Reported in the Sentinel, 24 June 2008. A detailed discussion on the drug trade and production is also given by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black. Merchants of Madness: The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle. Silkworm Press, 2009.
  20. Op cit, n. 16.
  21. Interview with Mrinal Hazarika (former commandant of ULFA’s 28th Battalion) on 2 November 2008, Surya Rangfor (publicity secretary of UPDS) on 30 January 2007 and James Bond Kuki (publicity secretary of UKLF) on 19 September 2007.
  22. Times of India. “NSCN Gun-Runners a Threat to Talks.” 26 May 2010.
  23. Telegraph (Northeast Edition). “Arms Flow Feed Militancy.” 29 October 2004. Both Tengchong and Ruili in Yunnan are named as centres where arms are released. 
  24. Interview with Dima Halam Daogah chairman Dilip Nunisa on 2 April 2008.
  25. Sagolsem Hemant. Far Beyond in the Misty Hills. 
  26. Indian Express. “China Emerging as Main Source of Arms to NE Rebels: Jane’s Review.” 22 May 2009. According to the report, the price of an AK-56 assault rifle in the Northeast ranges between Rs. 2.5 and 3 lakh and that of an M20 Chinese Pistol Rs. 1.5 lakh.
  27. Reported by China Daily, which quotes a report by Xinhua. 9 August 2010.
  28. Rachel Stohl, Matt Schroeder and Dan Smith. The Small Arms Trade; A Beginner’s Guide. Oneworld Publications, 2006.
  29. Ibid.
  30. K. Warikoo. Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geopolitical and Strategic Perspectives. According to the author, the Mizo National Front (MNF) sold weapons in Bangladesh and Northeast after surrendering in 1986.
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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Rajeev Bhattacharyya

Rajeev Bhattacharyya is the Chief of bureau of the Northeast with Bengal Post. He was earlier associated with Times Now, the Times of India, the Telegraph and the Indian Express, and was selected for the prestigious Chevening Fellowship for young Indian print journalists, which he completed in the University of Westminster, Harrow, UK.  

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