Link between Pakistani geospatial firm and Islamabad nuclear programme: How BSI has alleged link with Pahalgam

Pakistan is one of nine states that has nuclear weapons

Hours after it was revealed that US-based satellite imagery provider Maxar Technologies had been receiving orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam, Pakistani geospatial firm Business Systems International Pvt Ltd (BSI) was removed from its list of partners.

Maxar Technologies is a global space technology company operating Earth observation satellites, providing high-resolution satellite imagery and geospatial data. It's known for delivering detailed images.

This move came hours after ThePrint published a report saying that Maxar had been receiving orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam since June last year. At that time, BSI made its partner.

The report stated BSI purchased the images from a Colorado-based company and sold them illegally to the Pakistan government.

While there is no evidence directly linking BSI to the Pahalgam image orders, Maxar’s ‘Find a Partner’ page no longer listed BSI shortly after ThePrint’s story was published.

According to the ThePrint report, BSI and its owner, Obaidullah Syed, also made financial dealings and exchanged emails with top officials and agencies directly involved in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. According to the report, the US government’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) uncovered Syed’s connection to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the National Development Complex (NDC) and the aerospace and defence agency of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence.

Maxar stated that BSI did not place any orders for imagery of Pahalgam or surrounding areas in 2025.

ThePrint also cited the complaint filed by HSI before US Magistrate Judge M David Weisman on 15 September 2020. These agencies are responsible for “weaponizing nuclear technology through missile development and other means,” read the complaint. “BSI purchases satellite images from a Colorado-based company and then sells those images to an unspecified arm of the Pakistan government,” read a complaint filed by HSI special agent Jennifer Green.

US authorities had earlier indicted Syed for illegally exporting computer equipment and software solutions to Pakistani government agencies. Despite this conviction, BSI Pakistan was listed as a partner by Maxar Technologies.

According to ThePrint report, Syed was sentenced to a year in federal prison in 2022 for exporting goods and services from the US to the PAEC. However, his company became a partner with Maxar in 2023.

According to the report by ThePrint, from 2006 to 2015, Syed was involved conspiring with BSI employees in Pakistan to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by exporting computer equipment to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) without the required authorisation from the US Department of Commerce.

However, Maxar told ThePrint that the BSI had not placed any tasking orders for Pahalgam or surrounding areas in 2025 and had not ordered any imagery of those areas through their archive.

During her investigation, HSI agent Green’s team found multiple email exchanges between Syed, BSI, and Pakistani officials.

As per ThePrint, Green’s report cited emails showing BSI’s monetary exchange with the director of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. This agency designs and tests high explosives and nuclear weapon parts, and develops solid-fuelled ballistic missiles.

The HSI probe also showed that BSI’s dealings with the National Development Complex (NDC), an aerospace and defence agency of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence.