Pakistan condemns India’s step to seize the commercial goods loaded on a Karachi-bound ship at Mumbai port

Pakistan condemned the Indian government’s step to seize the commercial goods loaded on a Karachi-bound ship at Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port.

Reports emerged on Saturday that Indian authorities stopped a Malta-flagged merchant ship – CMA CGM Attila – that departed from China to Karachi on January 23.

Citing Indian officials, NDTV claimed that the consignment could be used by Pakistan for its nuclear programme and manufacturing essential components for Pakistan’s missile development programme.

Reacting to the development, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “These reports are reflective of Indian media’s habitual misrepresentation of facts. 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.”

According to the spokesperson, the specifications of the equipment indicated the cargo’s commercial use, while the transaction was being conducted through transparent banking channels with all the relevant documentation.

The relevant private entities were pursuing the matter against the unjustified seizure.

“This disruption of free trade underscores the dangers inherent in the arbitrary assumption of policing roles by states with dubious credentials, the spokesperson added.

“Such acts also highlight the growing impunity of certain states in violating international norms and taking arbitrary measures in violation of international law,” an FO spokesperson concluded.

According to the Indian media report, the authorities inspected the consignment which included an Italian company-manufactured Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine.

Controlled by a computer, the machine produces a scale of efficiency, consistency and accuracy that is not possible to measure manually, it added.

NDTV report claimed that a team from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) confirmed that the consignment could be used by Pakistan for its nuclear programme.