ISLAMABAD: Former Interior minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator Rehman Malik has urged Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Dr Marcus Pleyer to take notice of continuous nuclear proliferation by India and conduct a probe into the incidents under the FATF rules of financing proliferation.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said he wants to bring into the notice of the FATF another highly serious and heinous crime of financing proliferation as some 7.1kg highly enriched uranium was recovered from two citizens of India on May 6, 2021 in Mumbai. He said that according to the Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR), it was not the first time that such a highly radioactive substance has been seized by police in recent years but there are many more cases of nuclear proliferation, which are not reported by India.
He said the theft of uranium and the plan to sell it is a source of concern about nuclear safety and security, not only for India but also for the whole world. It is not yet known as to who the intended customer was, yet there are possibilities that a black market of nuclear material is thriving in India, which might be connected to international players, non-state actors or terrorists. “It must be mentioned here that it cannot happen without the active connivance of state operators, hence India has proved itself as an irresponsible state and kept lose control on nuclear materials,” he said and added that on April 28, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted the UNSCR 1540, which was established to prevent non-state actors from acquiring nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, their means of delivery, and related materials.