In 1991, the Indian Army recovered apart from other ammunition and arms, 151 machine guns and 849 pistols from the
Kashmir
militants. In 1999, the figures for the same items stood at 59 and 385 respectively. In 1991, the Army also seized 274 kilograms of explosives and 18 IEDs, while in 1999, the figures for these items rose to 3233 and 466 respectively. For the period until August 15, 2000, 2395 kilograms of explosives and 433 IEDs have been seized indicating a further upward trend.
Improvised Explosive Devices, more commonly referred to as IEDs, incorporate highly lethal explosives or incendiary chemicals designed to kill or destroy the target. They can be categorized as weapons and ammunitions defined as ‘light weapons’. RDX, also known as cyclo-trimethylene-trinitramine is the most widely used explosive and forms the bulk of the explosives seized by the Indian Army in
Kashmir
. Detonating at 9600 m/sec and reaching 3300 degrees temperature, it is the ultimate non-nuclear explosive available to militants. RDX, neither commercially available in the region nor known to be locally produced, remains an exclusively military explosive; Indian authorities have, therefore, sourced the RDX used by
Kashmir
militants and others within
India
to
Pakistan
.
The statistics mentioned above indicate a change in the weaponry used by non-state actors (NSAs); they have become the favorite of the militants replacing pistols and machine guns. This change has been effected due to developments within militant organizations coupled with the advantages offered by IEDs in comparison to small arms. Procuring sophisticated arms has become a costly proposition and there is also a demand and supply gap. In this situation, IEDs become the natural choice for NSAs whilst saving on human resources: whilst earlier, militants would have required more manpower and firepower to ambush a security convoy, with likely casualties to themselves, now a single strategically placed IED can attack the same convoy more effectively in terms of inflicting casualties without causing any damage to the militants themselves or requiring them to use much manpower or firepower.
The added advantage of an IED, when compared to any other small arms, is that it is virtually impossible to detect them in an unassembled form with two or more militants carrying different components. This is particularly useful in high security risk areas like
Kashmir
where searching is frequent. Another advantage is that IEDs being target specific, will not alienate from the public the NSA, which is crucial for their continued operations in the area.
For the NSAs, their main battle is against the State. Therefore any person, institution or premises representing the state can become the target for IED use. Here again, the usefulness of the IED is highlighted as it can be used to effectively target both personnel and infrastructure alike; this advantage is crucial when compared with small arms which requires different types of ammunition to be used against different targets.
When compared with other small arms, the lethality of the IED is enhanced by its ease of concealment. The most common model is an IED made using steel pipes that are widely available in the market. In addition, the Naxals in Andhra Pradesh use steel cans, plastic buckets, drums, tube-light frames and mud pots. The
Kashmir
militants, on the other hand, use almost any available container that would be deceptive and effectively mislead the security forces and the public. Therefore, there have used IEDs assembled inside pressure cookers, fire extinguishers, household utensils, packets in vehicles, and gas cylinders. Fire extinguishers, pressure cookers and gas cylinders are preferred due to the additional splinter effect they cause due to their thick metal sheeting.
The dangers of the increased use of IEDs lies, not only in the extensive damage they cause, but also in the proliferation of their use by groups not necessarily waging a large-scale war against the State. In addition to being used by militants fighting for political reasons, and leftist extremist groups (Naxalites) fighting for socio-economic reasons, their use has been noticed by fundamentalist groups in response to any major incident. This trend was particularly apparent in the series of blasts in
Bombay
after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and in
Coimbatore
after Hindu-Muslim clashes. The option of using IEDs by mushrooming disaffected groups is a tempting one, as procuring a weapon for only one time use is not only cost-effective but also a dangerous proposition.
Under these circumstances, it is crucial that efforts to check the proliferation of small arms also appreciates the dangers arising from the spread of IEDs and their increased use by non-state actors.
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