Prominent citizens urge India to halt arms shipments to Israel amid Gaza war
A group of eminent citizens in India has written a letter to the country’s defense minister, calling on him to halt the license process that enables exporters to send arms and ammunition to Israel, Anadolu Agency reports.
“India should immediately suspend its collaboration in the delivery of military material to Israel. Further, India must immediately make every effort to ensure that weapons already delivered to Israel are not used to contribute to acts of genocide or violations of international humanitarian law,” said the letter to Rajnath Singh.
The group included former Supreme Court and high court judges, economists, activists and authors including Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy.
“You are therefore requested to review and cancel/suspend all existing licenses for the supply of military arms and munitions by Indian companies to Israel,” the letter said.
The group, who addressed the media in the capital, New Delhi, also demanded that details of export licenses, including the countries to which exports are being made, continue to be in the public domain.
“The details used to be available on a website, but they have been removed,” said renowned lawyer Prashant Bhushan.