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Pakistan Bans Poultry Imports From India, Iran, France - PTI

Posted on: Monday, 20 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

Islamabad, 20 February: Pakistan Monday [20 February] banned poultry imports from India following reports of detection of bird flu in Maharastra but ruled out sealing its borders for prevention against spread of the virus. Pakistan's Food and Agricultural Ministry official Rana Muhammad Akhlaq said Pakistan has banned poultry imports from India, Iran and France in view of reports of detection of cases of bird flu in these countries. Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasneem Aslam, however, said Pakistan has no plans to seal the borders and called for stepping up of international cooperation to prevent the spread of the virus. She said Pakistan was deeply concerned over the reports of detection of the H5N1 avian influenza in the neighbourhood. She said departments concerned are taking stock of the situation even though no such case was reported in the country so far. "But we cannot take it for granted," she said.

Asked whether the government has any plans to seal borders with India, she said "Not at the moment. There is no such proposal." The first preventive measure is to create awareness. Any cases of flu should be immediately reported to the medical official, she said. Pakistan imports meat products from India, specially mutton and beef more than the poultry products.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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