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Chemical weapons experts in Pakistan

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said that some of its experts are in Pakistan to teach local officials how to deal with a possible chemical attack and protect civilians.

Representatives from the Hague-based body, who have been given the responsibility of overseeing the elimination of all chemical arms, are instructing 30 Pakistani officials on how to detect chemical weapons and respond to an attack, a statement said yesterday.

Pakistan is one of 126 states that have signed OPCW's chemical weapons convention. It ratified the treaty in 1997.

The OPCW said Pakistan was the second country to ask its experts to help plan protection against chemical weapons.

Another course is planned in an unnamed West Asian country later this year.

The OPCW was founded in April 1997. Its statutes require member states to declare all chemical weapons and industrial facilities and allow random inspection of sites.

UNI

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