Posted on 09/29/2001 11:51:36 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Scientists and doctors in Pakistan are preparing contingency plans to respond to the threat of biological and other unconventional weapons that could emerge as a result of the crisis in Afghanistan, officials said Saturday.
As part of the plans, hospital authorities are arranging for extra beds and medicines and are training doctors and paramedical staff in ways to cope in case terrorists unleash such weapons in Pakistan in response to an expected U.S. attack on neighboring Afghanistan.
``We have made all arrangements to handle the situation that could arise after a U.S. attack'' on Afghanistan, Nisar Ahmad Cheema, an official at Holy Family Hospital here, told The Associated Press.
Col. Abdul Mateen of the National Crisis Management Team said authorities were making all possible arrangements to combat such a threat but would not elaborate.
Prof. Abbas Hayyat, one of the country's most prominent pathologists, said Pakistan's two defense laboratories - one in Karachi and the other in Islamabad - were working to prepare enough vaccines to combat anthrax and other biological agents.
He urged the World Health Organization to help Pakistan with technological assistance in preparing a defense against biological weapons.
Pakistan has given full support to the United States in its campaign against terrorism, launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The United States believes Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror organization, based in Afghanistan, were behind the attacks.
That has led to fears worldwide that terrorist networks may be planning to use biological or other unconventional weapons.
Despite Pakistan's plans, international officials here believe this poor country of 140 million people would be severely strained if faced with a biological warfare threat.
Antoine Bealer of the International Committee of the Red Cross office here, said her organization would not be able to provide enough vaccine for the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the event anthrax and other biological agents were used.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers said Thursday they have neither the plans nor capability to employ biological weapons.
``The West and America both are afraid without any reason,'' a Taliban spokesman said on condition of anonymity. ``We are not so advanced technologically.''
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