Dear friends,

As soldiers trade mortar fire across Kashmir's disputed border and peasants flee the area, British leaders are at odds about whether they should continue to allow the sales of weapons and aircraft to India and Pakistan. Roger Berry, the chairman of the Commons committees investigating arms exports, has said that the conflict between the two countries was "as clear a case you could get" for an arms ban. But Jack Straw continues to justify the sale to India of 66 Hawk aircraft -- which can be used to train soldiers for nuclear bombing raids -- on the basis of "British commercial interests."

It's time to embrace a policy of common sense: Britain will not aid and abet this war mongering; "commercial interests" do not take precedence over the lives of thousands of Kashmiris and millions of Indians and Pakistanis. As long as British arms make their way into the arsenals of these nuclear rivals, attempts to broker peace are hypocritical. As the Guardian points out, the UK would be "making peace in conflicts which our own arms exports may have helped to exacerbate."

Given the rift in the national leadership, we have a real opportunity to make a difference if we act quickly.

Please contact your MP and ask him/her to support an immediate weapons embargo on India and Pakistan and to make your concerns known to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. You can do this at:

 http://www.faxyourmp.com

If that doesn't work, you can look up the relevant contact information at:

 http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/

You can also contact Jack Straw directly:

Fax: 020 7272 2144
Mail: House of Commons, London SW1A OAA
Email:  strawj@parliament.uk

Patricia Hewitt, Dept Trade and Industry, can be reached at:

Fax: 020 7215 5468
Mail: House of Commons, London SW1A OAA
Email:  npst.hewitt@dti.gsi.gov.uk

Even a short message is better than none at all. And the more you communicate in your own words, the more attention will be paid to your call to action.

In your message, you may want to highlight some of the following talking points:

* The British government is hardly a passive bystander in the arms trade. To the contrary, as author Arundhati Roy put it: "Tony Blair's 'peace' mission a few months ago was actually a business trip to discuss a one billion pound deal . . . to sell Hawk fighter-bombers to India. Roughly, for the price of a single Hawk bomber, the government could provide 1.5 million people with clean drinking water for life."

* By most estimates, a nuclear exchange between the two countries would leave 12 million dead and over 7 million seriously wounded. Britain must do everything in its power to restrain the two countries from such violence; an arms embargo would emphasize that the nation is serious in its demand for a peaceful resolution.

* Even if a nuclear attack doesn't occur, a conventional war would still devastate Kashmir and result in the deaths of thousands of innocent non-combatants. In these deaths, the UK would be especially culpable, since some are likely to be inflicted with British-made weaponry.

* According to scotsman.com, the military firm BAe has sold fighter jets to India and is also currently training Pakistani troops in air combat. Providing such aid to both sides can only increase the damage that will occur if war breaks out.

* In 2001, the combined military expenditure of India and Pakistan was 18 billion dollars. Yet over 40% of their populations -- 450 million people -- live below the poverty line. Britain shouldn't encourage this irresponsible spending behavior.