ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has rejected reports regarding the addition of sevenPakistani entities to the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industryand Security of the US Department of Commerce.

In a statement, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said that it is well-knownthat the Entity List maintained by the US Department of Commerce is adynamic list where entities and businesses from several countries,including from NSG member states, are added and removed based on thenational technical determination made by the relevant US authorities.

He said that we caution against unnecessarily politicizing the issue andreject attempts by Pakistan’s detractors to exploit these listings to castaspersions on Pakistan’s non-proliferation credentials.

He said that the entities in question are private sector companies.

He said that Pakistan believes that there should be no undue restrictionson the access to dual-use items and technologies for peaceful andlegitimate purposes.

The Spokesperson said that Pakistan’s efforts in the area of exportcontrols and non-proliferation as well as nuclear safety and security arewell known and Pakistan and US have a history of cooperation in theseareas.

He said such attempts give rise to doubts about the motivation and timingof these measures which will be seen as being politically-driven.