ISLAMABAD, March 18: The poultry association has asked the government to impose a ban on import of poultry and poultry products from Afghanistan to avoid spread of the deadly virus. Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that the demand came after the confirmation of the presence of the deadly H5N1 virus in chickens in Afghanistan by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Pakistan had already banned import of poultry and poultry products from 22 Avian influenza-affected countries with the recent inclusion of India, Iran in the list to avert possible outbreak of bird flue in the country.

Ironically, the government had banned import of poultry from all neighbouring countries, including China, Russia, some Central Asian Republics, Iran and India, except Afghanistan.

When contacted, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Secretary Ismail Qureshi confirmed that his ministry had received a request to ban import of poultry products from Afghanistan.

“We have forwarded the request to the commerce ministry for consideration. The decision is expected in a couple of days,” the secretary added.

“There is no laboratory in Afghanistan for detection of the virus. Moreover, no ban has been imposed by the country on import of poultry products from Iran, India and other neighbouring countries, which were affected by Avian influenza,” a source in the commerce ministry said.

Answering a question, the Minfal secretary said there was 80 per cent probability of the presence of H5N1 virus in chickens in the country.

“We cannot say anything with certainty. We have sent samples to World Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, United Kingdom, for confirmation,” he said.

He said it was not yet known whether the virus was the deadly H5N1 sub-type that had claimed scores of human lives in Asia. The confirmation of “N” type of virus was expected to be confirmed within a period of one week, he added.

As a precautionary measure, the government culled more than 30,000 chickens in two farms last month after the confirmation of the H5 bird flue virus.