According to WSJ ( Wall Street Journal )
"A grand-jury indictment in Baltimore accuses Nadeem Akhtar, 45 years old, who operated an export firm in Maryland, of obtaining the items from U.S. companies and illegally exporting them to agencies that are on a U.S. Commerce Department blacklist."
"Prosecutors said the materials include radiation-detection devices, calibration equipment and nuclear-grade resins that can be used "directly or indirectly in activities related to nuclear reactors and the processing and production of nuclear-related materials."
"The Pakistani agencies receiving the equipment include the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and the Chasma Nuclear Power Plant, the U.S. alleged. Both are banned from receiving certain items from the U.S. for national-security reasons."
The most ironical aspect of this news is that although President George W Bush had granted Pakistan the status of a major non-Nato ally and despite the fact that thousands of Pakistani civilians and Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives in the last ten years of war on terror yet the sanctions on civilian institutions (as mentioned by WSJ including Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and Chashma Nuclear Power Plant) which have nothing to do with military establishment remain in place.
It is clear that SUPARCO and Chashma Nuclear Power Plants are solely being used for civilian purposes (with the former being an organization focusing on space research and latter one focusing on generating electricity to fulfill the growing demand of Pakistan's developing economy). US and its allies in the west need to treat Pakistan (their most important partner in war on terror) at par with its neighbors and make sure that a balance of power is maintained in that part of the world which would further ensure peace and security in that region.
