Yes they are, since the Indian Army has changed from a license built FN/FAL to a locally designed and produced 5.56x45 assault rifle, there are plenty of the former in the hands of the police and paramilitaries. The FN/FAL is of about the same vintage as the AK, but is much more powerful. The only pictures of police I saw had them armed with the FN/FAL, but those were not the "commandos" who actually went in and dug the terrorists out of the hotel. Those probably were armed with the local clone of the Israeli micro Tavor(sic), which comes in three different chamberings, 5.56x45, 5.56x30 (Indian catridge) and 9mm.
The FN/FAL fires the full power 7.62x51 (AKA 7.62 NATO/.308) while the AK fires either the 7.62x39 or the 5.45x39, which are intermediate power cartridges. Of course the cartridges are smaller and lighter so they make a better choice for terrorists, who kinda have to travel light most of the time. The police and paramilitaries, OTOH, will generally be operating near their stations and their vehicles.
But they have point about the vests. Those looked like something out a Japanese Shogun movie, or maybe Gunga-Din, to put in the right part of the world. :)
“The only pictures of police I saw had them armed with the FN/FAL, but those were not the “commandos” who actually went in and dug the terrorists out of the hotel. Those probably were armed with the local clone of the Israeli micro Tavor(sic), which comes in three different chamberings, 5.56x45, 5.56x30 (Indian catridge) and 9mm.”
I’m no expert but I thought some of the commandos (I think that’s what they were, there was such a profusion of different troops and cops it was hard to make out who was who) were using what looked like FNC assault rifles with perspex see-through magazines.