Pakistan on Saturday rejected Indian media reports on seizure of “possible radioactive material” on shipping containers aboard a commercial vessel loaded at Karachi Port.
According to the Indian media, authorities at India’s Mundra Port seized the “radioactive material” on containers loaded on a Shanghai-bound commercial vessel.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the containers in question were empty. They had been used to transport fuel from China to Karachi for K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants and were now being returned to China, the statement said.
The statement said that both the power plants and fuel used in these plants are under the IAEA safeguards.
“The containers were ‘EMPTY’ and the cargo was correctly declared as non-hazardous in the shipping documents,” Pakistan said.
The statement clarified that reporting by the Indian media on the matter was “factually incorrect, baseless, laughable and a usual ploy of the Indian media to malign Pakistan and mislead the international community”.
“The fake reporting by Indian media is indicative of a malafide intent to twist procedural customs issues to bring into disrepute IAEA safeguarded nuclear power programme,” it added.
