January 31, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 27, 1423

ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Pakistan is now “provisionally free” of rinderpest, the plague of cattle, thus leaving Somalia as the only country in the world still infested with the killer disease, Minister for Food, Agricultural & Livestock, Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind said on Thursday.

Addressing newsmen at the United Nations Information Centre in the presence of FAO representative in Pakistan, Adel M. Aboul- Naga, and the European Union Ambassador, Likka Uusitalo, he said no clinical case of the disease had been detected in Pakistan in the past 24 months thus qualifying it to claim the status, “Provisionally Free” in the terminology of OIE (World Animal Health Organization).

“This announcement will have long lasting effect on our livestock sector in terms of production and trade,” he remarked.