Sir: According to media reports, US arms sales to other countries nearly tripled last year to $ 66.3 billion. Congressional Research Service has recently issued a report detailing that American arms sales hit a record high in 2011. The US small arms trade has also grown to $ 8.5 billion a year and Israel is one of the top importers of US weapons with sales worth $ 12.9 billion. It seems true that the wars in several countries must be giving a good business to the US defence industry. More people die of unmanned drones, fighter jets, missiles and bombs than in natural disasters. Parallel to this, the use of legal and illegal weapons have become common these days not only in the poor, Third World countries but also in modern countries like the US, France and Germany. Several bloody conflicts from Asia to Africa are getting all types of weapons through such an arms trade. According to a new estimate, 74,000 women and children lose their lives every year because of the illegal weapons trade. Despite such an enormous number, the global community is sitting silent and doing nothing to minimise the illegal and legal arms trade as this business is providing support to the ailing economies of several countries including the US. According to reports, the UN member states have failed to agree on a common draft to regulate the multibillion dollar arms trade. However, they have agreed to hold more talks on the matter in future but things are going from bad to worse because of the lack of interest of the big powers. Countries accuse the US of blocking the agreement after a month-long negotiations. KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ Jeddah, Saudi Arabia