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Hague-based chemical group inspects Pakistan plant |
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| PAKISTAN: April 30, 2003 | ||
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KARACHI - A three-member team from the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspected yesterday a state-run Pakistani fertiliser plant for environment and health standards, an official said.
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Tipu Sultan, a Pakistan foreign ministry official, told reporters the OPCW team visited the Fauji Jordan Fertiliser plant in the southern port city of Karachi and carried out a routine inspection. "They have inspected the health and environmental standards...they have nothing to do with chemical weapons inspection or any relation with U.N. arms inspectors as reported by the newspapers," Sultan said. "We briefed them on the measures taken by the fertiliser company on health and environment issues...they also inspected the main plant." An English-language daily, The News, last week reported that the OPCW was planning to inspect the fertiliser plant for chemical weapons. Pakistan denied the inspection had anything to do with a suspected chemical weapons programme. According to OPCW, every state that is party to the Chemical Weapons Convention will at some stage be inspected if it has a chemical industry that can produce some kind of toxic substances. Sultan said the OPCW had conducted 1,400 routine inspections of industrial and military sites of several countries over the past six years. The OPCW team will leave Pakistan yesterday evening after submitting its report to the Pakistani authorities, he added.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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