The U.S has imposed export restrictions on seven Pakistani entities, state and private owned, for violating the strict codes that guide the recipients of U.S technologies. Requests from these entities for trade will henceforth be considered with a “presumption of denial,” according to a recent decision by a trade control body under the U.S Department of Commerce.
All the entities are linked to Pakistan’s missile programme and include the Islamabad-based National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), and its subsidiaries, Air Weapons Complex (AWC), Maritime Technology Complex (MTC) and New Auto Engineering (NAE).
An end-user review process, which periodically determines whether technology sold by the U.S is being used only as specified by the license, found there was “reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable facts,” that these entities “have been involved in actions contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States”.
Pakistan is a designated Major Non-Nato Ally of the United States, and hence technically qualifies for a high level of technology transfer. But each license and sale is subject to a strict approval process, and “presumption of denial” will deny these entities access to sensitive U.S technologies.
The specific reasons for including these entities under a category of entities suspected to be acting against U.S security and foreign policy interests were not announced. The potential proliferation of highly sensitive technologies from Pakistan has been a lingering concern for the U.S, aggravated by the rise in global terrorism. U.S Departments of State, Defence and Commerce keep strict control over technologies that are sold to partners.
