REGARDING the Keighley-area Quakers joining the London protest against the arms trade, the head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has said that curbing and restricting the international arms trade is one ready-made solution that can have an instant impact and begin the process of healing the world.

In order to fuel their economies, Western nations are selling weapons abroad, including to those nations that are embroiled in warfare and armed conflict.

For example, the USA is signing off on a new arms deal for the sale of sophisticated and precision-guided missile technology to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, a 2016 United Nations report found that an array of companies, individuals and countries had long been contravening an international arms embargo on Libya and supplying arms to different factions.

Hence, even where some limited rules apply, they are not being properly enforced. Business interests and the pursuit of wealth take priority over the wellbeing of mankind and achieving peace.

It is argued curbing the arms trade could result in a loss of jobs among the American defence companies. Furthermore, it is sometimes argued the sale of weapons may actually encourage peace, as weapons can act as a deterrent. This is completely senseless and such justifications only encourage a never-ending arms race leading to further production and sale of extremely dangerous weapons.

Governments should disregard fears their economies will suffer. Instead, they should think about the type of world they wish to bequeath to those that follow them.

Many of the weapons being used in Muslim countries, and even by terrorist groups such as Daesh, have been produced in the West or Eastern Europe and so it is time for proper sanctions to be put in place that are effectively implemented.

MUJEEB RAHMAN Shann Avenue, Keighley