As violent anarchy started engulfing the tiny state of Manipur in early May 2023 there was a forlorn cry from a veteran lieutenant general, L. Nishikanta Singh, who lives in that state:
“I am a simple Indian from Manipur, who is living a retired life. The state is now ‘stateless’. Life and property can be destroyed by anyone at any time. Like it happens in Libya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Syria. It seems that Manipur has been left to dissolve in its own juice. Is anyone listening?”
Obviously, the powers-that-be have been listening. And now, 16 months after this desperate cry, as people of Manipur — Meiteis, Kukis and Nagas — have been desperately seeking harmony, peace and security, they have come out with an incredible response: policing with mortars and medium machine guns.
The warning by deputy inspector general (range one) N. Herojit Singh of the Manipur police would not have been clearer. Addressing a press conference on September 15, 2024, he said:
“We want to remind the public that the police department’s duty is to maintain law and order and to respond to armed attacks by miscreants. We have sustained multiple casualties during these challenging times… We have evidence of automatic weapons being fired during protests… Without law and order, society cannot function. If conventional methods to maintain law and order fail and alternative measures are used, it will be unfortunate for everyone.”
What are these “alternative measures”? Obviously, using area and automatic weapons like mortars and machine guns on the “miscreants”. As it is, there is evidence that mortars are already being used by the Manipur police commandos. There is an audio recording doing the rounds of someone clearly in authority – a sworn affidavit has been submitted to the official commission of inquiry probing the Manipur violence that it is the voice of chief minister N. Biren Singh – where it is clearly said:
“I am the only ONE who is fighting the real war and taking the war to the hills… I am the one who had sent, directed and ordered the state forces and commandoes to the war zone (the hills) … I gave bombs to the commandoes and sent them… All the bureaucrats and Secretariat, police and high-ranking officials in all the major state departments are under the control of the Kukis… We all are finished. I foresaw the downfall of the Meiteis which is why I started this (ethnic cleansing).”
The Wire revelaled earlier this month in its reporting of the ‘Manipur tapes’ that those in charge had authorised the use of ‘bombs’ in the state.
Speaking in Hindi and Meiteilon, the purported voice of Singh can be heard saying:
“All heard you see! Amit Shah asked me ‘Bomb marta hai?’ Means, from that day onwards, he instructed [me] to stop using bombs. Mat marna, (You are using bombs? Don’t use them). ‘Bombs mat use karna’, he instructed [us] by summoning the DG [DGP] and all…. After he [Shah] left, I told them; Hoi! chupke se karna hai, open nahi karna hai (It should be used covertly, not openly.) If you do not trust me, check with the commandos in the frontline.”
This clearly meant the the Manipur police commandos have been regularly using these ‘bombs’ on civilians, armed or unarmed.
The ‘bombs’ being talked about are presumably high explosive ammunition fired from 51 mm mortars which are area, targeted and anti-personnel weapons. It is a muzzle loaded, fin stabilised bomb at low muzzle velocity employed for high angle fired in a short span of time.
These explode immediately on impact and are effective against troops, soft skinned vehicles and light shelters.
Moreover, they have a maximum range of 1,000 meters and in rapid fire can fire eight rounds a minute. In intense fire, it can be 12 rounds. Due its high rate of fire, they delivers a large volume of fire at the target area in a short time.
Also read: ‘Manipur Police’s Behaviour in Kuki Areas ‘Questionable’, Assam Rifles Is Unbiased’: Lt. Gen Kalita
Basically, these are military weapons that can rain death and destruction in concentrated areas where people are assembled. Therefore, these are prohibited from being used against civilian crowds during protests, rallies and law and order operations. In fact, army columns deployed in aid to civil authority under Section 131 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) are not allowed to carry these weapons. But now the Manipur police, whose sole purpose is to handle protests and law and order situations, have them and are using them under direct orders from the chief minister who have no legal or statutory authority under CrPC or any other law. This is what the police sources say:
“After two-three days of the ethnic conflict, the home department was instructed to give all information to the chief minister; we followed that informal order. So, it was him as the home minister who was giving instructions directly to those at the front (police commandos).”
A number of press releases issued by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) after Shah’s visit last year also mentioned the use of 51 mm mortar bombs on Kuki villages.
There are also reports that the Manipur Police has now acquired medium machine guns (MMGs) which is the infantry’s “weapon of mass killing” and they have sought training from the Army. These MMGs, sourced from the ordnance factory in Jabalpur are supposedly to replace light machine guns (LMGs) which were partially looted from the police armouries during the initial stages of the unrest in May-June 2023 allegedly with the full connivance of the chief minister and his minions.
To understand the significance and seriousness of this devilish move, we need to have a comparative analysis of the LMGs and the MMGs. The LMGs with high fire density and long range of engagement will be a proper weapon for any defensive or offensive operation. The LMG is light enough for the operator to use it from any position and requires no time to be combat ready. Its effective range is 500 meters. It has a magazine capacity of 40 rounds and practical rate of fire-automatic 150 rounds/min and single 50 rounds. This is the standard offensive weapon of Indian infantry at company/platoon levels in war and counter-insurgency operations and is prohibited during aid to civil authority for law and order operations.
On the other hand, an MMG is a weapon used by the army and is fired from a tripod mounting. It is fully automatic, air cooled, belt fed, gas operated weapon capable of a sustained high rate of fire in bursts. It has a mobile zone of fire, about 150m x 75m, with a range of 1800 meters and rate of fire-adjustable 600 to 1000 rounds per minute. It is used as an area weapon to ensure that all that comes in its blistering fire are killed.
These are infantry battalion weapons of mass killings used only during war and are even prohibited during counter-insurgency operations. This principle is because whereas war is against an enemy, counter-insurgency operations are against our own people gone astray. MMGs cannot even be seen during protests or law and order operations, let alone being possessed by police forces.
Also read: As Manipur Police Acquires MMGs, All Signs Point to Intensified War
If automatic weapons are being used on the police this makes it an insurgency, and dealing with that is the job of the army and para-military forces and not the police which is directly under the control of partisan politicians. For the police, the role is maintenance of law and order and while doing so situations sometimes turn in to riot and violence when mob-firing may have to be resorted to. Unless Manipur is heading towards complete lawlessness, its police must adhere to certain cardinal principles while resorting to mob firing. These are:
- Firing should be ordered only when all other means of mob dispersal fails.
- It should be selective and controlled. The senior most officer will watch the reaction of the crowd after each round or set of rounds is fired and stop firing as soon as the crowd starts dispersing.
- Once firing is decided upon it should be effective. Aim should be kept low preferably well below the waist level and directed against the most threatening part of the mob.
- Police force should exercise strict restraint and self-control even under the gravest provocation and it must under no circumstances act in a retaliatory or revengeful spirit.
- It will suffice to give the fire order to one or two individuals only. Only under extreme circumstances reserves can be used for firing.
These are standard operating procedures contained in all police manuals for dealing with mob violence/riots. Even for the army the strict instructions are to use minimum force. 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. They cannot even carry LMGs, let alone MMGs.
Neither war nor counter-insurgency are the job of the police. It is only maintenance of law and order. In the event, what is this ‘Manipur solution’ of policing with mortars and medium machine guns? Why are they acquiring weapons capable of mass massacre akin to what we see almost daily in the Gaza strip? What are they trying to achieve — a ‘tribal-mukt (tribal-free) Manipur’ or a ‘Manipur-mukt (Manipur-free) Bharat’? And what is the guarantee this ‘solution’ will not be extended to other parts of the country? These are relevant questions and the jury is out.
M.G. Devasahayam is a former IAS officer. He also has wartime and counter-insurgency experience during his stint in the Indian Army.
