Pakistan Alerts Key Departments

May 23, 2002

Amid fears of war, Pakistan authorities on Thursday asked various departments to launch emergency operations.

A meeting chaired by the Governor of Punjab, Lieutenant General (retd) Khalid Maqbool, and attended by local government leaders reviewed internal security, logistic support and strategic matters, official sources said.

The meeting asked the highway, civil defence, building and public health departments to begin putting into place contingency measures.

The Punjab health department had asked government hospitals to add 9,904 beds, 750 mobile first-aid units, and first-aid dispensaries at more than 400 places, Ashiq Pervaiz, an orthopedic at Multan's Nishtar Medical College, was quoted as saying.

The department had also asked 10,846 doctors to be available, besides activating 67 blood transfusion units, Pervaiz said.

The army had hired more than 1,700 trucks to transport soldiers and equipment from the Punjab Goods Transport Association, a spokesman for the association said.

The food department had assured the government that it had "sufficient reserves" of wheat and sugar, a spokesman said.

Civil defence officers said 25,000 volunteers were available in the province while necessary items like bitumen, bricks and sand had been supplied to repair damaged roads and ensure that communication lines were open.
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