Pakistan’s Nuclear Ambitions Hit Iron Ceiling

The consignment was shipped on January 9 on a merchant vessel CMA CGM Attila, a Malta-flagged vessel from Shekou Port in China, and was heading to Karachi Port with Cosmos Engineering being the consignee, a source said.“During its voyage, the vessel reached Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT) Mumbai on January 22, 2024 and the consignment was seized by Indian customs officials based on intelligence inputs on possible proliferation concerns by Pakistan and China,” the source said.

The equipment would be useful in manufacturing critical parts for Pakistan’s missile development programme, another source with knowledge of the matter said. The consignment has been inspected by a team of experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation, it is learnt.

Customs Watchlist

On the condition of anonymity, Customs officials confirmed that Cosmos Engineering had been on their watchlist since March 2022, when Pakistan was trying to procure ‘thermo-electric instruments’ from an Italian firm, with Cosmos Engineering being the consignee. The same was intercepted at Nhava Sheva Port on March 12, 2022, under the policy to prevent proliferation activities through Indian ports.

Earlier, in February 2020, China was attempting to supply an autoclave to Pakistan under the cover of an ‘industrial dryer’, which was seized from a Hong Kong-flagged Chinese ship named Dai Cui Yun which left Jiangyin port on the Yangtze river in China’s Jiangsu province, and was headed to Pakistan’s Port Qasim. The seizure of the autoclave, which could be used in Pakistan’s missile programme, strengthened apprehensions that Pakistan is continuing the illegal trade of missiles and violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the first source stated.

The autoclave, which was mis-declared as an ‘industrial dryer’, is notified in the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) list and was found concealed in the bottom of the cargo of the ship, as it transited through Gujarat’s Kandla port

U.S. Sanctions

In June 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) sanctioned three Chinese companies – General Technology Limited (which had supplied the autoclave), Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development, and Changzhou Utek Composite – for their involvement in supplying missile-related items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme. The U.S. State Department had said the sanctions were imposed as part of the global non-proliferation regime.

China has also been assisting Pakistan in the construction of civil nuclear power plants, including four 300 MWe nuclear power plants at Chashma, and two 1,000 MWe plants in Karachi. Last year, Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission and China’s National Nuclear Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 1.2 GW nuclear power plant, at an estimated cost of $4.8 billion.

Pakistan Protests

(Dawn) The Foreign Office on Saturday issued a sharp rebuke in response to India’s interception and seizure of a commercial consignment en route to Pakistan, labelling the action as an “unjustified seizure” and criticising India’s self-assumed role as a regional enforcer.

“Pakistan condemns India’s high-handedness in seizure of commercial goods. This disruption of free trade underscores the dangers inherent in the arbitrary assumption of policing roles by states with dubious credentials,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.

Her comments came after media reports about the interception by India on Jan 23 of a Malta-flagged merchant vessel, CMA CGM Attila, near Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port. The Karachi-bound ship from China was boarded, and its cargo was inspected based on what Indians claimed to be specific intelligence inputs.

Indian customs officials, according to statements made to Indian media, found an Italian-made computer numerical control (CNC) machine within the consignment, alleging its potential utility in nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and subsequently confiscated it.

Indian agencies confiscated goods on Karachi-bound ship

Ms Baloch clarified that the item in question was “a commercial lathe machine”. The intended recipient of the seized machinery has been identified as Cosmos Engineering, a Karachi-based firm that manufactures automobile parts and home appliances.

The consignment was seized after the port officials had alerted the Indian defence authorities, who inspected the heavy cargo and reported their suspicions. Officials in India were quoted as saying that the seizure fell under the“prevention of possible proliferation by Pakistan and China”.

According to Indian media reports, documents such as the bill of lading and other consignment details purportedly showed that the consigner was Shanghai JXE Global Logistics Co Ltd and weighed 22,180 kilograms.

“This is a simple case of import of a commercial lathe machine by a Karachi-based commercial entity, which supplies parts to the automobile industry in Pakistan,” Ms Baloch elaborated.“Speci­fications of the equipment clearly indicate its purely commercial use. The transaction was being conducted through transparent banking channels with all the relevant documentation.”

Criticising the Indian action, she remarked, “Such acts also highlight the growing impunity of certain states in violating international norms and taking arbitrary measures in violation of international law.”

(With Agency Inputs)