US Targets Pakistan’s Ballistic Missile Programme With Sanctions On Four Entities, Islamabad Protests

Pakistan on Thursday (19 December) criticised the US decision to sanction its commercial entities over alleged involvement in a ballistic missile programme, calling it "unfortunate and biased."

The United States on Wednesday (19 December) slapped sanctions on four Pakistani entities, including one state-owned, in an action ‘targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.’

Mathew Miller, the US State Department spokesperson, said the four agencies were involved in Pakistan’s long-range ballistic missile programme.

In a statement on Thursday, the Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said the sanction defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries and claimed that "double standards and discriminatory practices undermine the credibility of non-proliferation regimes."

The entities that were targeted by Washington on Wednesday included Islamabad-based National Development Complex (NDC). The agency is believed to have played a central role in developing Pakistan’s ballistic missile capabilities.

NDC is also responsible for developing Shaheen-series ballistic missiles and also for procuring special vehicle chassis and missile testing equipment to support these efforts.

Apart from the NDC, US sanctions targeted Affiliates International, Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, a company that allegedly supplied a range of equipment to NDC for its missile development activities.

Rockside Enterprise was also targeted by the US to prevent “the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and prevent further destabilising developments in the region.”

"Pakistan considers the US decision to impose sanctions on NDC and three commercial entities as unfortunate and biased," the foreign office said.

"The latest installment of sanctions defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries. Such policies have dangerous implications for strategic stability of our region and beyond," it added.

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