Pakistan decries US sanctions as biased, politically motivated

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Saturday, said that Pakistan considered the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on commercial entities over alleged connections to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program as biased and politically motivated.

In response to media inquiries about the US decision to impose sanctions on commercial entities over alleged connections to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that similar listings of commercial entities in past were based on mere suspicion, involved items not listed by any export control regime, and yet were considered sensitive under broad, catch-all provisions.

It is widely known that some countries while claiming strict adherence to nonproliferation norms, have conveniently waived licensing requirements for advanced military technologies to their favoured states.

Such double standards and discriminatory practices undermine the credibility of global nonproliferation regimes, increase military asymmetries, and endanger international peace and security, said the spokesperson.