New Delhi: The United States has blacklisted half a dozen Pakistani companies for supporting Islamabad’s “unsafe nuclear activities”. The companies are placed on the US Export Control List by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which comes under the US Department of Commerce, which restricts access to goods, software and technologies for these companies.
The US statement said that many of these companies were added to the list because they “have been found to supply or attempt to supply items … in support of Pakistan’s unsafe nuclear activities and ballistic missile program”.
The Pakistani companies that have been listed include Dynamic Engineering Corporation, Enerquip Pvt Ltd, Rainbow Solutions, Universal Drilling Engineers, NAR Technologies General Trading LLC and Trojan. The last 2 companies also have bases in the UAE. Most of these companies are based in the national capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, with some also having addresses in Karachi and Lahore.
The statement pointed out that the three Pakistan-based companies are contributing to nuclear activities and missile proliferation activities that are “contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States”. Two UAE companies, EnerQuip Limited and Zain Enterprises FZE, have also been backlisted for supporting Islamabad’s nuclear activities.
The development comes even as the US and India have several times publicly expressed concern over Pakistan’s nuclear activities. Earlier this year, US President Biden termed Pakistan as “perhaps one of the most dangerous countries in the world” because it has “nuclear weapons without any reconciliation”.
India has recently expressed concerns after a Russian senator, Igor Morozov, alleged that Ukraine had sought Pakistan’s help to develop nuclear weapons. In November, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that “we have expressed our concern about proliferation of nuclear technology from Pakistan in the past”, explaining, “If there is any such link or proliferation, it is of concern.” reason.” Not only for India, but also for the international community.”
In the past, India has pointed to Pakistan’s nuclear tie-up with North Korea, as well as support by Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan.