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Gunned Down
Efforts by Indian states to equip their police forces with modern weapons have hit a roadblock. Germany and Austria have refused to give export licences to their weapon manufacturers wanting to sell to certain Indian states which they believe have a poor human rights record.
States on the blacklist include Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Manipur, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir. These states have been rebuffed for several years now. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, waited two years before moving on to other buyers.
Germany's Heckler and Koch makes the MP-5 submachine gun and Austria's Glock makes the eponymous pistol. Efforts to acquire these firearms gathered steam after the 26/11 attacks which exposed the weaknesses of police forces in combating heavily armed terrorists. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the boycott at a recent meeting of chief ministers. Modi was unhappy with the home ministry circular advising these states to import weapons from Russia, the US and Italy.
One of the main reasons for this desire to import has been the failure of indigenous options. A World War II vintage pistol and carbine licence produced by the Ordnance Factory board (OFB) is obsolete. A DRDO 'modern insas carbine' meant to replace them is still under trial nearly 30 years after the project began. The Glock and MP-5 are regarded as the best in their class and favoured by law enforcement officials worldwide, including India's Black Cat commandos. These weapons are also cheaper than the OFB-made products.
"It is absolutely wrong for these nations to withhold export licences," says a home ministry official. In meetings with the home ministry, embassy officials of these nations said domestic political compulsions-pressure from green parties that support their ruling governments-were responsible for the blacklist. There is no ban, however, on the National Security Guard (NSG), which is equipped with both the Glock and MP-5. The home ministry initially considered a proposal to get the NSG to import the weapons and distribute them to the states. It now plans to directly import and redistribute the weapons to the states.
http://bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=14431
Efforts by Indian states to equip their police forces with modern weapons have hit a roadblock. Germany and Austria have refused to give export licences to their weapon manufacturers wanting to sell to certain Indian states which they believe have a poor human rights record.
States on the blacklist include Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Manipur, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir. These states have been rebuffed for several years now. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, waited two years before moving on to other buyers.
Germany's Heckler and Koch makes the MP-5 submachine gun and Austria's Glock makes the eponymous pistol. Efforts to acquire these firearms gathered steam after the 26/11 attacks which exposed the weaknesses of police forces in combating heavily armed terrorists. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of the boycott at a recent meeting of chief ministers. Modi was unhappy with the home ministry circular advising these states to import weapons from Russia, the US and Italy.
One of the main reasons for this desire to import has been the failure of indigenous options. A World War II vintage pistol and carbine licence produced by the Ordnance Factory board (OFB) is obsolete. A DRDO 'modern insas carbine' meant to replace them is still under trial nearly 30 years after the project began. The Glock and MP-5 are regarded as the best in their class and favoured by law enforcement officials worldwide, including India's Black Cat commandos. These weapons are also cheaper than the OFB-made products.
"It is absolutely wrong for these nations to withhold export licences," says a home ministry official. In meetings with the home ministry, embassy officials of these nations said domestic political compulsions-pressure from green parties that support their ruling governments-were responsible for the blacklist. There is no ban, however, on the National Security Guard (NSG), which is equipped with both the Glock and MP-5. The home ministry initially considered a proposal to get the NSG to import the weapons and distribute them to the states. It now plans to directly import and redistribute the weapons to the states.
http://bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=14431
