1: 111 retired bureaucrats from the Constitutional Conduct Group wrote to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and External Affairs Minister, urging for a stand on Israel's war on Gaza and illegal expansion in West Bank.
2: The signatories stated that Israel's "genocidal course" could lead to one of the darkest chapters in the global history.
Over 100 former civil servants, under the Constitutional Conduct Group collective, have endorsed a statement about the silence over Israel's war on Gaza and India's "reluctance" to speak about the "collective punishment" of Palestinians.
The letter, addressed to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and External Affairs Minister, urged the Indian government to reclaim its historic role in addressing colonial injustices and pursue initiatives that could steer Israel away from its "genocidal course" — that could become one of the darkest chapters in human history.
Talmiz Ahmad, Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, told Outlook, "This is an extremely important statement, in that it reflects the anger and anguish of a large number of distinguished Indian civil servants about the ongoing wanton genocide in Gaza. They have felt the need to speak out due to the efforts of several official platforms to prevent the strong feelings of Indians being articulated in the public domain.''
Read the letter below:
Honourable Prime Minister of India,
Honourable Home Minister of India,
Honourable External Affairs Minister of India,
The Constitutional Conduct Group is a group of retired civil servants of the Central and All India Services who have worked both with the Central and State governments. As a group, we have no political affiliation and are only interested in safeguarding constitutional and universal human values. We are writing today to express our outrage over the genocidal situation in Gaza perpetrated by Israel, and concern over India’s weak and ambivalent response.
On October 7, 2023, against the backdrop of continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab lands since 1948, and a deep division in Israel over Prime Minister Netanyahu, on corruption, judicial and security issues, Hamas launched an attack on the south of Israel killing 1195 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostage. Israel retaliated with a grossly disproportionate and ferocious attack unleashing violence and inhuman measures against Palestinians in Gaza on a scale unprecedented in recent history, in total violation of international laws of war and humanitarian standards.
Israel also expanded its military and intelligence operations to cover the Hezbollah in Lebanon, air defence and nuclear targets in Iran and air strikes in Syria that have killed hundreds; and ground incursions into the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, raising alarms about Israel covertly pursuing its ambitions of Greater Israel.
The human toll of this remorseless retaliation has been horrific. In Gaza alone, nearly 62,000 Palestinians have been killed, but so have hundreds of foreign aid workers, UN personnel and media professionals, with the numbers mounting every day. Entire urban areas and almost 70 per cent of all buildings have been flattened to rubble. These constitute grave war crimes.
To this has been now added a daily toll of at least 5-10 Palestinians, particularly children, dying of starvation induced by the denial and control of food, medicines, fuel and other humanitarian aid; and scores being killed in Israeli firing as Gazans clamour for what little aid is allowed to trickle in, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to starve the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and force their mass expulsion from the ‘open-air prison’ in Gaza into empty desert wildernesses further south.
There have been growing protests within Israel by hostage families and the public (such as hundreds of thousands in a huge rally in Tel Aviv on August 17) calling for an end to the war and return of the remaining 53 hostages; severe criticism from mainstream politicians for Netanyahu’s use of the war to perpetuate his rule on grounds of national security; and calls from within and outside Israel to act against Israel. South Africa took the lead in referring Israel’s excesses in Gaza to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Saudi Arabia condemned, while over 100 international NGOs signed a letter urging the world to pressure Israel to stop "weaponizing aid" in Gaza and ease its restrictive registration process for groups seeking to distribute supplies on the Strip.
Tragically for the Palestinians, in the absence of support from the United States and those who champion the values of freedom, democracy and human rights, the world has been powerless to stop this savage collective punishment. Indeed, the extent of impunity that Israel has enjoyed would not have been possible without the support of most Western governments and the absence of effective action by Arab states.
Sharp condemnations, calls for cessation of armed attacks, and pleas for access of humanitarian aid into Gaza from the UN General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, American universities and huge rallies in western capitals have been totally ignored by Israel’s leaders. But the slow starvation of an entire population in a man-made famine with searing images of emaciated, starving and malnourished children and adults, seems to have finally stirred the international conscience.
In a landmark decision in November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defence minister, Yoav Gallant. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain officially recognised the State of Palestine. Several Western governments including key US allies UK, Canada, France and Australia have retracted their blanket support for Israel and have ‘threatened’ to recognise a Palestinian state at the coming UN General Assembly if Israel didn’t change its position.
Meanwhile, in an ominous turn, on August 8, a divided Israeli Cabinet took a controversial decision to evacuate and occupy Gaza city and central refugee camps in Gaza and take full control of the Gaza strip by October 7, 2025. Preparations for this have already begun. Last week, influential far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced long held settlement plans that would sever the north and south of the West Bank and split it in two in a move that he said would "bury the idea of a Palestinian state."
India’s response to this profound ethical, moral and existential challenge to humanity has sadly been not just disappointing but cynical, with the government issuing insincere expressions of support for the Palestinian cause on the one hand, while supporting, and sympathizing with, Israel on the other. It has gone along with UN resolutions in 2023 and 2024 urging an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, asserted India’s support for the two-state solution, and called for extension of humanitarian aid to Gaza, but refused to condemn Israel’s disproportionate response to the October 7 attacks, or its brutal carnage against Palestinians in Gaza, or demand an unconditional ceasefire.
India’s closet support for Israel was exposed in June 2025 when it abstained on a critical UNGA resolution that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in Gaza, unimpeded humanitarian access to Gazans, release of all hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups and condemned the use of starvation and the denial of humanitarian aid as a tactic of war. India, instead of voting in favour, urged direct diplomacy between both parties to end the conflict, as if both parties were equally at fault. India was only one of 18 other countries to abstain from the resolution. 149 countries voted in favour.
India’s reluctance to speak out against the merciless collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, has been deeply disconcerting. India has also not condemned the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in recent months, a process that continues to fuel violence against and forced displacement of Palestinians.
The ambivalence, and general disregard in India for Palestinian suffering in the face of possible genocide, may well be part of a disturbing rightward communal shift in Indian public opinion, governance and judiciary. Police in various Indian states have routinely cracked down on small groups protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza. In July, a Hindutva mob, allegedly backed by the police, violently disrupted a Palestine solidarity event in New Delhi’s Nehru Place. Even more shocking was the dismissal by the Bombay High Court of a petition challenging the police’s refusal to give permission for a rally on Gaza. The High Court preached to the petitioners to “be patriots”, “concentrate on problems affecting India” and not concern itself with distant problems. Meanwhile, the government has expressed satisfaction in Parliament, that since it signed a bilateral framework agreement in November 2023, 20,000 Indians have got jobs in Israel that Palestinians lost because of the war.
This is a far cry from the internationalism of India’s freedom struggle, its firm opposition through the UN, NAM and other platforms to imperial machinations, colonialism and apartheid of which Israel was one outcome, and its principled position on the Palestinian cause since its inception. The current trends in government and broader society, reflect a communalization of our collective world view, in which national interest, foreign policy and security considerations are increasingly being seen through a narrow, communal prism.
The Constitutional Conduct Group adds its voice to the section of the international civil community that condemns the rabid Israeli response to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, against the background of Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestinian lands, its deliberate war crimes, its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from Gaza, and a slow and defiant genocide that now mimics the holocaust of Jews in Europe in the 20th century and mocks the powerlessness of the international community. We call upon the government of India to reclaim its historic leadership in addressing colonial injustices and consider initiatives to pull Israel back from its genocidal course that may result in one of the blackest chapters in the history of humanity.
Satyameva Jayate.
1 Anita Agnihotri
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2 Talmiz Ahmad
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE
3 Anand Arni
RAS (Retd.)
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
4 Sandeep Bagchee
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
5 J.L. Bajaj
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
6 G. Balachandhran
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
7 Vappala Balachandran
IPS (Retd.)
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
8 Gopalan Balagopal
IAS (Retd.)
Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
9 Chandrashekar Balakrishnan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
10 Sushant Baliga
Engineering Services (Retd.)
Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI
11 Rana Banerji
RAS (Retd.)
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
12 Sharad Behar
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
13 Aurobindo Behera
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
14 Madhu Bhaduri
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Portugal
15 K.V. Bhagirath
IFS (Retd.)
Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius
16 Pradip Bhattacharya
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
17 Nutan Guha Biswas
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
18 Meeran C Borwankar
IPS (Retd.)
Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
19 Ravi Budhiraja
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
20 Maneshwar Singh Chahal
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Punjab
21 R. Chandramohan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
22 Rachel Chatterjee
IAS (Retd.)
Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
23 Kalyani Chaudhuri
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
24 Purnima Chauhan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Youth Services & Sports and Fisheries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
25 Gurjit Singh Cheema
IAS (Retd.)
Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
26 F.T.R. Colaso
IPS (Retd.)
Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
27 P.R. Dasgupta
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
28 Pradeep K. Deb
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
29 Nitin Desai
Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
30 M.G. Devasahayam
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
31 Kiran Dhingra
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
32 Sushil Dubey
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Sweden
33 A.S. Dulat
IPS (Retd.)
Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
34 K.P. Fabian
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Italy
35 Prabhu Ghate
IAS (Retd.)
Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI
36 Suresh K. Goel
IFS (Retd.)
Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
37 S.K. Guha
IAS (Retd.)
Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI
38 H.S. Gujral
IFoS (Retd.)
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
39 Meena Gupta
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
40 Ravi Vira Gupta
IAS (Retd.)
Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
41 Sajjad Hassan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Govt. of Manipur
42 Rasheda Hussain
IRS (Retd.)
Former Director General, National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics
43 Siraj Hussain
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
44 Najeeb Jung
IAS (Retd.)
Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
45 Sanjay Kaul
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
46 Gita Kripalani
IRS (Retd.)
Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI
47 Ish Kumar
IPS (Retd.)
Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
48 Sudhir Kumar
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
49 Subodh Lal
IPoS (Resigned)
Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
50 Sandip Madan
IAS (Resigned)
Former Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission
51 Dinesh Malhotra
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
52 P.M.S. Malik
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI
53 Harsh Mander
IAS (Retd.)
Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
54 Amitabh Mathur
IPS (Retd.)
Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
55 Aditi Mehta
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
56 Shivshankar Menon
IFS (Retd.)
Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser
57 Malay Mishra
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Hungary
58 Sunil Mitra
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
59 Sudhansu Mohanty
IDAS (Retd.)
Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI
60 Jugal Mohapatra
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI
61 Ruchira Mukerjee
IP&TAFS (Retd.)
Former Advisor (Finance), Telecom Commission, GoI
62 Anup Mukerji
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar
63 Deb Mukharji
IFS (Retd.)
Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
64 Jayashree Mukherjee
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
65 Shiv Shankar Mukherjee
IFS (Retd.)
Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
66 Gautam Mukhopadhaya
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Myanmar
67 Nagalsamy
IA&AS (Retd.)
Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala
68 B.M. Nanta
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
69 Ramesh Narayanaswami
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
70 P. Joy Oommen
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
71 Amitabha Pande
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
72 Maxwell Pereira
IPS (Retd.)
Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
73 G.K. Pillai
IAS (Retd.)
Former Home Secretary, GoI
74 Gurnihal Singh Pirzada
IAS (Resigned)
Former MD, Punjab State Electronic Development & Production Corporation, Govt. of Punjab
75 R. Poornalingam
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
76 Rajesh Prasad
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
77 T.R. Raghunandan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
78 N.K. Raghupathy
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
79 V. Ramani
IAS (Retd.)
Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
80 M. Rameshkumar
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal
81 K. Sujatha Rao
IAS (Retd.)
Former Health Secretary, GoI
82 M.Y. Rao
IAS (Retd.)
83 Madhukumar Reddy A.
IRTS (Retd.)
Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoI
84 Vijaya Latha Reddy
IFS (Retd.)
Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
85 Julio Ribeiro
IPS (Retd.)
Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab
86 Aruna Roy
IAS (Resigned)
87 Manabendra N. Roy
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
88 A.K. Samanta
IPS (Retd.)
Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
89 Deepak Sanan
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
90 Tilak Raj Sarangal
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary (Elections) and Financial Commissioner, Revenue (Appeals)
91 G.V. Venugopala Sarma
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
92 N.C. Saxena
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
93 A. Selvaraj
IRS (Retd.)
Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI
94 Ardhendu Sen
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
95 Aftab Seth
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Japan
96 Aruna Sharma
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Steel, GoI
97 Ashok Kumar Sharma
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
98 Ashok Kumar Sharma
IFoS (Retd.)
Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat
99 Navrekha Sharma
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Indonesia
100 Raju Sharma
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
101 Avay Shukla
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
102 K.S. Sidhu
IAS (Retd.)
Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
103 Mukteshwar Singh
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission
104 Tara Ajai Singh
IAS (Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
105 A.K. Srivastava
IAS (Retd.)
Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal
106 Prakriti Srivastava
IFoS (Retd.)
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala
107 Parveen Talha
IRS (Retd.)
Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
108 Anup Thakur
IAS (Retd.)
Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
109 P.S.S. Thomas
IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
110 Ashok Vajpeyi
IAS (Retd.)
Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi
111 Rudi Warjri
IFS (Retd.)
Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica
