An arms company listed on the National Stock Exchange of India is continuing to support Myanmar’s military junta, exporting more than US$5 million in equipment between November 2022 and April of this year, according to Justice for Myanmar (JFM).
In a report released on Wednesday, the activist group said that the Indian arms manufacturing company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) exported US$5.1 million in military-end use materials and technology — including sonar, radio components and radar equipment to be used in military warships or submarines and on the battlefields — during the six-month period.
“BEL transferred the equipment knowing that the Myanmar military is the end user, and that it is committing ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity,” JFM said in the report.
BEL sent seven shipments during the six-month period with three being sent to the Myanmar military directly, three sent to arms broker Mega Hill General Trading, and one sent to Alliance Engineering Services.
BEL, controlled by its majority shareholder the Indian government, has been supplying the Myanmar military with numerous prior transfers of weapon systems and a coastal surveillance system since the February 1, 2021 coup.
JFM called on investors to divest from companies, like BEL, that have repeatedly failed to comply with their human rights responsibilities.
The Indian government controls the company, owning slightly more than 51% of BEL, according to the company’s website.
JFM said BEL’s other shareholders include:
- Nippon Life India Asset Management,
- Goldman Sachs,
- Vanguard,
- BlackRock,
- Fidelity,
- Canadian Pension Plan,
- California Public Employees’ Retirement System,
- California State Teachers Retirement System,
- Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, and
- Swedish pension funds AP-fonden (AP1), Andra AP-fonden (AP2) and Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7).
“These new and significant exports to Myanmar from BEL make India further complicit in the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity,” JFM spokesperson Yadanar Maung said.
“By selling arms and equipment to the junta, India is choosing to ignore the voices of the Myanmar people, the legitimate National Unity Government, civil society, UN resolutions and its responsibilities under international law,” she said.
JFM called on India’s Quad partners and other allies to use their leverage to pressure India, which has long-standing defense cooperation with the Myanmar junta, to stop the supply of arms and dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar regime.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s made a state visit to France this year and is currently on a state visit to the United States.
“The Biden administration is this week honoring Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a state visit to the White House. We urge President Biden and his government to push Prime Minister Modi to immediately stop all shipments of arms and dual-use goods and technology to the Myanmar junta,” the spokesperson said.
Besides, JFM also called on the US, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to impose targeted sanctions on arms brokers Mega Hill General Trading and Alliance Engineering Services, as well as their networks, directors and shareholders.
Alliance Engineering Services was established by Ivan Htet, the son of the junta’s former air force chief Maung Maung Kyaw.
Mega Hill General Trading is a private Myanmar military contractor that has a history of procuring technology and providing services to the army’s Directorate of Procurement, including a remote-controlled weapon station supplied by BEL in 2021, JFM said.
Since the coup, Myanmar military junta has killed at least 3,688 people, arrested more than 23,000 more, and displaced 1.5 million people.
