SWABI, April 25: The All Pakistan Poultry Association (APPA) would file a writ petition against those people who were involved in spreading rumours about the spread of bird flu, which had badly hit the poultry industry in the NWFP.

This was stated by APPA provincial president Syed Zabihullah Bacha at a press conference here on Tuesday.

The outbreak of H5N1 strain of bird flu in eight poultry farms on the outskirts of Islamabad and laboratory tests confirming the presence of the virus at poultry farms in Sihala and Tarlai further crippled the poultry business in Pakistan.

He alleged that a well-calculated conspiracy hatched against the poultry industry of the NWFP and those who were responsible for it should be taken to task by the government.

He said: “The doctors in Islamabad had made millions by spreading rumours that bird flu existed in NWFP areas but in fact there is no such threat.

‘‘The doctors are responsible for loss of the industrialists who have been running from pillar to post to keep their businesses intact.”

He said the provincial minister for health and agriculture had already declared that there was no such threat but the plotters from the centre destroyed the people’s belief.

He said laboratories existed in Britain and there was no such facility in Pakistan. “Bird flu laboratories in the UK can confirm cases of H5N1 strain and we have not yet established such facilities,” he said.

He said that poultry owners in parts of the NWFP had become panicky as they are facing a severe business loss due to flaring up of the news that chickens might be infected.

He said that people too had become panicky that bird flu had spread in Pakistan and so they were taking precautionary measures by not eating chicken, resulting in severely affecting the poultry business.