But who are the actual players in this illicit trade? Is Beijing involved, or is it solely criminal gangs that have targeted the Northeast as a lucrative destination?
Likewise, there has been no attempt to comprehend the problem of small arms proliferation in the region. So, there has been no sustained effort to work for a solution. The problem indeed is very serious if existing facts are taken into account—firearms are sold at hubs across Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, and one needs to have only the right contacts to buy sophisticated assault rifles and grenades. And a good majority of all arms consignments originate in China, which are distributed across the entire region through a well-organised network sustained mainly by the military-militant-mafia nexus.
But who are the actual players in this illicit trade? Is Beijing involved, or is it solely criminal gangs that have targeted the Northeast as a lucrative destination? Why are Chinese firearms more easily available now compared to the situation a decade ago? And what is the quantity of such firearms available in the region?
The government’s awareness of and attitude to the problem is best revealed by the contradictions in the responses received from the Union and Assam governments on confiscation of Chinese arms and grenades over a period of 10 years (1997–2007). An application filed by the author under the Right to Information Act with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that a total of 34 items were seized in Assam during the 10-year period, which included 20 pistols but no grenades. Data given by the state government says that 204 grenades, 41 pistols and 42 assault rifles (AK-47 and AK-56) were confiscated in seven districts alone during the same period!2 A senior journalist from Manipur also cast serious doubts on the figures given on Manipur by MHA.3 The same pattern would undoubtedly emerge if data is gathered from the rest of the Northeastern states.
Chinese Firearms and Grenades Seized from 1997 to 2007
There are an estimated 75 million firearms in South Asia, 63 million of which are in unauthorised hands4. The Northeast has become a market for illegal arms ever since the Naga National Council (NNC) raised the banner of revolt in the mid-1950s. From a few rifles given by China in the late 1960s to the NNC, the sources expanded over the years and they have been traced to Pakistan, the U.S., UK, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Israel.5 During the last decade or so, the supply of Chinese-made firearms has far exceeded the supply of firearms made in other countries. This aspect is proved from the seizures made and from the interrogation of gunrunners and militants.But there is no evidence to suggest that the Chinese government is directly involved in the illicit trade. Firearms and grenades are released in such a manner that discerning the official stamp is difficult. A senior official in the MHA said, “We have asked the Ministry of External Affairs several times to take it up with Beijing but they have time and again told us to provide hard evidence which is next to impossible. So we have stopped bothering ourselves. Ultimately MEA has a role to play in checking the menace and it can’t simply put the blame on us.”6 Not only that, intelligence agencies drew flak when they were asked by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to submit details in 2008.
There is no production of firearms by private agencies in China, and the state-owned Norinco is among the top five manufacturers in the world in rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers (the others are Heckler & Koch in Germany, Izhmash in Russia, Colt in the United States and F N Herstel in Belgium). According to available data and estimates, the Russian Federation, the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil and China exported more than US$100 million worth of small arms and light weapons in 2003.7 Not surprisingly, it is not only India’s Northeast that has been flooded with Chinese firearms; the Taliban are using them and the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) of Nepal also had access to sources in China.
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