Daily Times

The Foreign Office (FO) rejected on Saturday the “political use” of export control measures after the United States imposed sanctions on four entities for allegedly supplying “missile-applicable items” to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program.

“It is a reality that the same jurisdictions, which claim to exercise strict non-proliferation controls, have waived off licensing requirements for advanced military technologies for some countries,” said FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.

The spokesperson added that such behaviour is leading to an “arms build up; accentuating regional asymmetries, and undermining the objectives of non-proliferation and of regional and global peace and security”.

The US State Department, a day earlier, claimed that one Belarussian and three Chinese companies were particularly assisting Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme.

“The Department of State is designating four entities pursuant to Section 1(a)(ii) of Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. ?These entities have supplied missile?applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, including its long-range missile program,” said the US State Dept.

The spokesperson said Islamabad was not “aware of the specifics” of the latest measures, but there have been many instances in the past “where listings have been made on mere suspicion or even when the involved items were not on any control lists but were deemed sensitive.”

Baloch said Pakistan has repeatedly pointed out that such items have legitimate commercial uses and therefore it is important to avoid arbitrary application of export controls.

“Pakistan has always been ready to discuss end-use and end-user verification mechanisms so that legitimate commercial users are not hurt by discriminatory application of export controls,” the spokesperson added.

Late last year, Pakistan conducted a successful flight test of the Fatah-II missile system. Earlier in October, a successful flight test of the Ababeel weapon system was also conducted.

The test of the ballistic missile system was aimed at “re-validating various designs, technical parameters, and performance evaluations of different sub-systems,” a press release stated.

“The missile system is aimed at strengthening deterrence and enhancing strategic stability in the region through the operationalization of full-spectrum deterrence in the overall construct of credible minimum deterrence,” it added.