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Rights groups criticise U.K. Government for arms exports to India, Pakistan

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JUNE 8. The British Governmentis being criticised for continued sale of arms to potentially "unstable'' regionssuch as the Indian subcontinent and West Asia, and to countries accused of human rights abuses. The criticism follows the publication of the Government's latest report on arms exports which jumped to almost a £billion in 2003 — an increase of nearly £50 million.

Human rights groups said the Government was in breach of its own guidelines which banned sale of arms to regions of potential conflict, and to countries which were likely to use them for purposes other than self-defence. They said that "indiscriminate'' arms sales was contradictory to the Government's commitment to an "ethical'' foreign policy.

"Despite warnings of tension in West Asia, Indian subcontinent and the Korean peninsula, the U.K. Government is contributing to it by flooding these areas with weapons,'' said a spokesman for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Paul Evis, director of "Saferworld'', said that despite the danger of weapons falling into the "wrong hands'', the British Government was continuing to sell arms to conflict zones and countries with poor human rights records.

Oxfam called upon the Government to "clean up its act'' and stick to its professed "principles''. It saidthat the value of arms exports to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Britain's allies in its "war'' against terrorism, had doubled last year.

The Government said its policy was "consistent'' with the European Union's code on arms exports. The Foreign Office Minister, Baroness Symons, said Britain was leading the "global effort to develop common international standards.''

"Our export control system is both rigorous and among the most open in the world... .The Government has taken action to ensure that the E.U. code of conduct is applied in a consistent manner across the E.U.,'' sheadded. The report shows a considerable increase in the value of arms exports to India, which is shown as the sixth biggest importer of British weapons after Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Malaysia, Germany and Italy. There has beenheavy criticism of the continuing arms exports to Israel despite disclosures that it has used them to attack Palestinian territories.

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