Pakistan rejects Indian claims of military dimension, says equipment seized is for industrial use

• The item under question is a heat treatment furnace casing system revealed FO.
• The item was correctly declared in the relevant documentation and there was no attempt to hide or conceal any information.
• Claims regarding the possible military dimension of the held item are ‘factually incorrect’.

Pakistan Foreign Office on Saturday has dismissed Indian reports as ‘factually incorrect’ saying that the item seized by the Indian authorities from a Pakistani bound commercial vessel was a heat treatment furnace casing system, which has no military dimension to it.

“We have noted the reports about inspection and seizure by the Indian authorities of an item from a Pakistan bound commercial vessel by the Indian authorities. In this regard, we have also been approached by the private company in Pakistan which had imported the item under question,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Saturday.

The item under question is a heat treatment furnace casing system revealed FO, which has several industrial applications. It is not listed on any international export control list. “Contrary to what is being claimed, the item was correctly declared in the relevant documentation and there was no attempt to hide or conceal any information,” FO added.

Claims regarding the possible military dimension of the held item are ‘factually incorrect’. Similar furnaces are being used in several industries in Pakistan and the world over.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has already dismissed Indian accusations.  As a responsible major country, "China faithfully fulfills its international non-proliferation obligations and commitments. We have learned that the cargo involved is actually a heat-treating furnace shell system made by a private Chinese company,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing on Thursday.

“It is by no means a piece of military equipment or a dual-use item covered by China's non-proliferation export control regime. The Chinese commercial ship and owner of the cargo have declared the item truthfully beforehand with the Indian authorities in charge, so there is no concealment or false declaration,” he added.

The Indian media reported that experts at India's Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) confirmed that the industrial autoclave seized from the Chinese ship Da Cui Yun can be used for the "manufacture of very long-range ballistic missiles or satellite launch rockets". Indian officials also said India's national security authorities could notify the UN pursuant to relevant Security Council legal instruments to expose the nuclear proliferation nexus between China and Pakistan