https://arab.news/52snn
- Says containers loaded on Shanghai-bound commercial vessel from Karachi port were ‘empty’
- They were used for transportation of fuel from China to nuclear power plants in Karachi
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office of Pakistan on Saturday rejected Indian media reports about shipping of “possible radioactive material” on a commercial vessel loaded from a Pakistani port.
The statement by a foreign office spokesman came in response to media queries about Indian media reports suggesting that Indian port authorities had seized “possible radioactive material” on containers of a commercial vessel loaded from the Karachi port.
“We have noted the reports in the Indian media about ‘seizure of possible radioactive material’ by Indian port authorities at the Mundra Port on containers loaded on a Shanghai-bound commercial vessel from Karachi Port,” the spokesman said in statement.
“In this regard, the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant authorities have informed that these were ‘EMPTY CONTAINERS’ being returned to China, which were earlier used for the transportation of fuel from China to Karachi for K-2 and K-3 Nuclear Power Plants.”
Both K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants and fuel used in these plants are under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, according to the Pakistani foreign office. The containers were empty and the cargo was correctly declared as non-hazardous in the shipping documents.
The reporting by the Indian media about the seizure of such material is “factually incorrect, baseless, laughable and a usual ploy” to malign Pakistan and mislead the international community.
The development comes months after Islamabad said it was concerned over reports of ‘theft and illicit sale’ of radioactive material in India, demanding an investigation into the matter.
In August, the Crime Investigation Department in India’s West Bengal state arrested two people from an area near the Kolkata airport over the illegal possession of radioactive substances, India’s NDTV news channel reported. One of the four pieces of radioactive materials seized was suspected to be californium, a radioactive chemical element.
This was the third such incident in India over the last four months, according to media reports. In May and June, authorities seized over 13kg of uranium from unauthorized persons in two separate incidents in India.
Pakistan is itself accused of trafficking these materials, equipment and the information to enrich radioactive materials to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The country placed Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the late father of its nuclear program, under house arrest in 2004 after he confessed to selling nuclear secrets to foreign countries. Several of his collaborators in Europe were arrested in Germany, Switzerland and South Africa.
Khan was released in 2009. He died at an Islamabad hospital on October 10 this year.