New Delhi, June 8 (IBNLIVE): Tiny north-eastern state Nagaland has emerged as a hub for issuing small arms licenses at a time when the use of small arms for private protection and as a status symbol has become a fashion in almost every part of the country.
The state issued 15,550 arms licenses between 1990 and 2005, out of which as many as 5,200 were meant for residents of other states. These bogus gun licenses, easily available in Nagaland, are now becoming a major concern for internal security.
The Nagaland Government has now recalled hundreds of these fake gun licenses issued from the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Kohima. “On verification, it was found that many of these licenses were not issued from any DC offices in Nagaland,” CP Giri, former Special Secretary (Home) of Nagaland, reveals.
Investigations have revealed that the staff of the District Commissioner’s office in Dimapur maintained two separate registers: One for issuing gun licenses through the regular channel and the other to issue fake licenses!
Security experts say the finding in Nagaland is only the tip of an iceberg as the number of small arms currently in circulation in the country has gone up manifold over the years. Strangely, the Union Home Ministry is not asking why so many people need gun licenses.
“You only have to look at the applications for gun licenses in Lucknow today. I think the last figures that I knew six years ago was 50,000 applications pending! This is supposed to have gone up to 5,00,000 pending applications today,” Air Commodore (Retd) Jasjit Singh , a security expert, points out.
With so many illicit and sophisticated small arms in circulation across the country, it’s no surprise that India is ranked sixth with 6.3 small arms arsenal, according to an UN estimate. Clearly, it’s time for the government to wake up.
Experts on the illegal small arms trade say that three out of four guns currently in use in India are unlicensed. “At a very conservative estimate, the illicit arms industry would be generating an annual turnover of approximately Rs 90 crore a year,” Air Commodore (Retd) Prashant Dikshit says.
India’s inability to curb small-arms smuggling has strengthened the Maoists, who are today active in 8,700 police station areas across the country. Smuggling of small arms has also kept insurgency alive in the Northeast and fuels terrorism in J&K and other parts of the country.
“The Naxalites now have high-quality arms and have got their own production units. They can manufacture a sten-gun and have even developed a home-made variant of the shoulder-fired weapon,” Dixit reveals.
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