The urgency of recovering the firearms and ammunition looted during the August 2024 political changeover can hardly be overstated with the national elections said to be held in the first half of February 2026. The police have so far failed to recover 1,342 of the 5,763 firearms looted from police stations and outposts and 2,57,287 rounds of ammunition and explosives, as police data of October 27 say. The weapons having remained outside state custody poses a grave threat to public safety and, more alarmingly, to the prospect of peaceful elections. The firearms still missing include 114 Chinese rifles, 1 BD-08 rifle, 31 Chinese submachine guns, 3 light machine guns, 455 9脳19mm pistols, 207 Chinese 7.62脳25mm pistols, 393 shotguns. Many of them are sophisticated military-grade weapons, not mere handguns, and being in the wrong hands, they could wreak havoc on an already volatile political climate. The government鈥檚 decision to reaffirm cash rewards for information leading to their recovery is a welcome step. Incentives alone, however, will not suffice unless they are backed by intelligence-driven operations, sustained vigilance and community cooperation.
Besides looted arms, it is feared that there are hundreds of illegal arms out there in the criminal and political networks. These weapons also often surface during periods of political tension. In the run-up to the national elections, their presence could become catastrophic. Political violence has, meanwhile, continued unabated since the 2024 changeover. Reports of clashes, attacks and intimidation have become a near-daily occurrence, with rights group Ain O Salish Kendra recording 121 deaths and 4,892 injuries in 444 incidents of political violence between August 2024 and May 2025. The unrecovered weapons, coupled with unregulated arms, could further inflame such violence and erode public confidence in the electoral process. Along with political violence, incidents of robbery have also continued unabated. A total of 177 robbery cases were reported across the country in May, 149 in April, 171 in March and 153 in February while 67 dacoity cases were reported in May, 46 in April, 74 in March and 60 in February, according to police data. Security experts say that the circulation of looted and other illegal arms is responsible for the unabated political violence.
The failure to recover the looted arms is likely to have serious implications for the overall law and order and democratic stability. The government must, therefore, not treat the recovery of both looted and illegal arms as a routine policing issue but as a national imperative to secure peace, uphold law and order and ensure that the forthcoming elections remain free of the shadow of violence and fear.
