Indian report on seizure of radioactive material a ‘laughable’ story, says Pakistan

Pakistan on Saturday termed Indian media’s report on the alleged seizure of radioactive material a “factually incorrect, baseless and laughable” story.

“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,” said Foreign Office spokesperson in response to “questions from the press”.

The spokesperson said that the authorities at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant have informed that the seized materials were “empty containers” that were being returned to China. The containers have been used for the transportation of fuel from China to Karachi for K-2 and K-3 Nuclear Power Plants, he added.

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The FO said that both the plants in Karachi are under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The containers were “empty” and the cargo was correctly declared as non-hazardous in the shipping documents, it explained.

“The reporting by the Indian media about ‘seizure of possible radioactive material’ is factually incorrect, baseless, laughable and a usual ploy of the Indian media to malign Pakistan and mislead the international community,” said the FO.

Pakistan said that the “fake reporting” by Indian media was an indication of “malafide intent to twist procedural customs issues” and put the IAEA safeguarded programmer to “disrepute”.

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Radioactive material seized at Gujarat’s Mundra Port: report

Earlier today, Indian publication Times Now reported that a joint Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) team of India had allegedly “seized several containers loaded with radioactive material at Mundra Port in Gujarat”. They claimed the containers were seized from a foreign vessel that was travelling from Karachi to Shanghai.

“In a media statement, the Adani Ports and Logistics on Friday stated that the cargo was listed as non-hazardous but the seized containers had hazard Class 7 markings (which indicate radioactive substances),” claimed the Indian publication.