New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday (December 5) declined to provide a direct answer in the parliament to a query about whether India has been exporting arms and ammunition to Israel.
While responding to questions during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Jaishankar said that India’s broader national interests determine the country’s decisions on export of military materials to any country, reported The Telegraph Online.
“With regard to our exports to Israel, in particular any export which is related directly or indirectly to munitions or military sense, that is not information that is in public domain,” Jaishankar said in reply to a question asked by CPI MP P.P. Suneer.
Jaishankar also defended India’s decision to abstain from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for a humanitarian truce between Israeli forces and Hamas militants.
CPI (M) MP John Brittas reiterated the question about export of arms and ammunition to Israel and asked that if Palestine’s minister of state in the foreign office had met India’s ambassador with the request to reconsider arms sales to Israel because of their use against Palestine civilians.
“The issue of India’s exports, including India’s exports of anything which directly or indirectly has any military implications, is guided by our national interest and by our commitments to various regimes. So, we are very responsible members of various international regimes, including the Wassenaar arrangement. We have an export control and licensing process. And we take decisions regarding any export which is based on what we consider to be our national interest,” said Jaishankar.
“Israel is a country in which we have a strong record of cooperation in national security. It is also a country that has stood by us at different moments when our national security was under threat. So, when we take any decision we will bear in mind, obviously, the larger circumstances but we will definitely be driven by our national interest in this matter,” he added.
However, Jaishankar added that India supports the two-state resolution.
