It has been reported in the national media that the Manipur police has already acquired 7.62 mm MMGs (Medium Machine Guns) from the Ordnance Factory Jabalpur, and has requested the Indian army to train its personnel in their use in a 21 day capsule.
Before readers mistake the MMG as just another weapon in the armoury of the police or law-enforcement, some facts should be kept in mind.
An MMG is a weapon used by the army to create an impassable, mobile zone of fire, about 150m x 75m, at a massed enemy, out from a distance of about two kilometres. It is used mostly as an area weapon to ensure that all that comes in its blithering fire are killed. The zone of fire, called its ‘beaten zone’, happens because the barrel reverberates in its housing, creating horizontal and vertical movements. The advantage of an MMG, over an LMG (Light Machine Gun) or a rifle, is not one of lethality because the bullet used in all these three is the same. The only advantage is that of volume of fire.
An army uses it against a massed enemy which must be neutralised with a high degree of assurance. It’s a weapon of conventional war. The Indian Army is not even allowed to take MMGs along when called out to restore law and order in internal security situations. That is so because the principle for use in civilian situations, is one of strictly ‘minimum force.’ A gun firing out at two kms, emptying 235 rounds in seconds, is not minimum force, but deadly maximum force. Not just MMGs, the internal security columns of the regular army are not allowed to carry even Light Machine Guns (LMGs). They must fire only single shots of a rifle, with a strict record kept of each shot – who ordered it, against whom, and what were the results.
If the scenario in Manipur now requires the state police to be armed with MMGs, one wonders why the PM has not yet visited that state. He has visited Ukraine, where he called for an end to the war, besides various all important events in India such as the flagging off of Vande Bharat train flagging-off and the Ambani wedding ceremony – but has steadfastly refused to visit Manipur, or even speak about it. He has also not advised the President of India that there is a complete breakdown of law and order in Manipur, and hence the state must be placed under President’s rule. These two facts – the situation being such that the state police wants to use MMGs despite the prospect of civilian casualties, and Modi being so dismissive about the gravity of the crisis – do not sit well together. In a democracy, these will have to be reconciled.
The Manipur government is the best judge of the situation it faces. However, it is not up to them to use their police for all possible tasks. The police is meant to address law and order problems, and that is why they were traditionally armed with lathis. For tackling other possible tasks, the state calls in the Central Armed Police Forces or the Army. These forces are equipped and trained differently. That is still being done in Manipur. However, to militarise the police, while ordering the army and Assam Rifles out needs some explanation.
Because Manipur is a state under democratic India, some aspects need to be clarified to the people of Manipur, before the MMGs start belching fire.
What is the doctrine for employment of MMGs i.e. in what circumstances will they be used and in what manner?
What is the justification to hand over a weapon of massed fire to an agency mandated to arrest suspected culprits, arrest them and hand over to the judiciary to decide guilt and punishment?
The army uses this weapon in a different scenario where they are free to treat everyone not wearing their uniform as enemy of India. That is not the case with Manipur police. It is simply not possible to fire belts of MMGs at suspects and then arrest them.
This arrangement hands over the judicial power to the police, rather than the courts. This is happening elsewhere too, but the stop signal must be activated somewhere.
I have commanded a unit in Manipur in exactly these areas. What I saw then was that Manipur commandos were the most hated force in Manipur, by all tribes. To hand over MMGs to such a force is a very dangerous thing to do.
Perhaps Manipur’s government is demanding these weapons because they have lost over 4000 sophisticated arms and lakhs of rounds of ammunition to looters. Is it acceptable to India to have even these MMGs looted and be available to the looters?
Since the ordnance factory has already handed over these deadly weapons to the Manipur state authorities, it is clear that the Union government has ordered this directly. The situation has become precarious. Before policemen, with just 21 days training, start firing MMGs indiscriminately at Indian citizens, let better sense prevail.
Alok Asthana is a retired colonel of the Indian Army.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
