Germany refuses arms export to India over ‘poor human rights record’
In a big snub to India, over its poor human rights record in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), the German government has refused licence to two firms planning small arms export to the South Asian country.
Though Germany is India’s sixthlargest trading partner and its largest trading partner from the European Union, it feared that their small arms could be used against the civilian population in occupied Kashmir.
The massive human rights violations and military siege for the last 565 days since August 5, 2019, communication blackout, false incrimination of the innocent civilians have raised eyebrows of the international community with human rights organizations questioning the aggression against Kashmiri people fighting for their right to self-determination guaranteed under United nations Security resolutions.
According to a report published in Telegraph India, the concerns over the security forces’ human rights record in Jammu and Kashmir had raised a barrier before Germany’s small arms exports to India.
German regulations and covenants restrict, and often prohibit, arms sales to nations or regions where their use might cause direct or collateral damage to civilian populations and institutions.
Two Indian security officials familiar with the bar on German small arms producers said that these companies had failed to obtain export licences from their government on account of the “poor human rights record” in Kashmir.
The report also revealed that a Belgian arms manufacturer too had recently walked out of a deal to supply arms to India’s army amid concerns in the Belgian government that the weapons would be used in Jammu and Kashmir.
Belgium’s Fn Herstal had signed the Rs700 million deal in 2020 to supply small arms and assault rifles to the army’s Special Frontier Force (SFF).
Reports have said that German arms manufacturer Heckler and Koch, whose MP5 submachine guns have been part of the armoury of the national Security Guards (nSG) and Marine Commando (Marcos) units, has withdrawn from the Indian market saying it lacked approval from the German government.
“After being rebuffed by Germany, the defence ministry has decided to procure US-made assault rifles,” a security official said.
In november 2019, three months after the Centre had revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and restricted movement and communication, Germany had expressed reservations about the clampdown and concern for the people of the region.
Germany had earlier too restricted arms export to India citing poor human rights records in states such as Gujarat, Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
According to the Telegraph India, a defence ministry official recalled that Germany had, during the Kargil conflict of 1999, halted technology transfer for India’s indigenously made Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and withheld replacement parts and supplies for German equipment.
India was the world’s secondlargest importer of major arms between 2014 and 2018 and accounted for 9.5 per cent of the global imports, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2019.
According to the report, Russia accounted for 58 per cent of Indian arms imports between 2014 and 2018, while Israel, the US and France too increased their arms exports to India during this period.
Following the revocation of the special status of Kashmir, the Indian government had imposed restrictions on communication networks adversely impacting livelihoods.
According to estimates of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries in the first three months since August 2019, there was a loss of over USD 2.4 billion to the economy, which doubled after Covid-19.
The doctors were regularly complaining that lack of internet was hurting coronavirus response.
According to the Software Freedom Law Centre, India was leading the global internet shutdowns. By november 20, out of 71 internet shutdowns by the government, 57 were in IOK.