PAKISTANIS EXPEL A MALARIA EXPERT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140091-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: February 10, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140091-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE-
PAKISTANIS EXPEL
MALARIAEXPERT
U.S. Chief of Research Center
Ousted as Soviet Publishes
Biological War Charges
ByMICHAELTT.KAUFMAN .
Specta{W heNeWYorkTimea '
NEW DELHI. Feb. 9-- Pakistani au-?
thotities expelled the American head of
a malaria research center in Lahore last-
week as a Soviet magazine said the labo-'.
ratpry was breeding disease-bearing
mosquitoes for use In Afghanistan and
Cuba, using unsuspecting Pakistanis as
guinea pip.
The, physician.' David R. Nalin, who.
came here after his expulsion, said that
the Soviet campaign had long roots and-
that pra.Soviet.agents had infiltrated.
the laboratory and taken advantage of
petty jealousies and rivalries among
some of the senior Pakistani staff.
Dr.. Nalin, a respected clinical, epi-;,
demiologist, was also critical of what he.
termed the Ineptitude of United, States
Embassy officials who Were unable and
in -some cases even unwilling to con-
vine Pakistani authorities that his visa
should be renewed. "It's really shock-
ing;" said Dr. Nalin, "that with the $3.2
billion aid package and this wonderful:
new relationship we are supposed to be.
haling with the Pakistanis, we couldn't-
even get avisa renewal':".,
He said that as a result of his depart
Lure the center, theworld'slargest labo.
ratory dealing with malaria control,
wO ld probably be closed y `
Target of Moscow Accusations.
The 40-year-old physician said, he, had
been aware of politically motivated op.:
position soon after he arrived- to take
ch rge of. the project in October 1979.
7h-.laboratory and. hospital. had been
started in 1962 as a joint project of Paki-
stan and the University of .Maryland...
where Dr. Nalin is an associate profes-
sorof international health. He said that.
tlmtenter's files contained reports over.
a period of.. 10 years of Moscow broad
casts alleging that the center was being.
u5,ed for studies in biological warfare. - -
Dr. Nalin reported thgt'for,the.last
year, as he repeatedly.asked what was
hoi4ing up. his : visa renewal, he had,.
never been given any explanation..He .
said he had learned from friends in vari
oup. ministries that. them were objec.
.
ti based on,reports of biological war:
=research at the center. ?;, . *
NEV YORK TIMES
3.0 FEBRUARY 1982._
,After several delays, he said, he was
officially notified at the end of January
tl}at he had. to leave the country within a
week or face arrest. .
'Since its inception the center has pro-.
vided basic health care for 25,000 people.
at 4 has kept detailed records 'on . ma-
larja. Recent studies by the center have
turned upsuch important findings; Dr1
Nalin said, as the discovery that only 'a
tiny fraction of mosquitoes carry ma-
lacia and that they do not breed in fetid
water.as previously thought but prefeC.
clean water.
New Strains of Mosquitoes Souggt) :
.Another part of the center's program:
was the breeding of mosquitoes in at
tempts to develop strains of males that
would mate with wild females"- to
pipducesterilelarvae.
Nalin said an in-house investiga
tlon showed that two senior staff mem-
bps :had' been' spreading- `allegations
about the center. One of these he identi-
fied as Aslamn Khan. an assistant profes=
spr who he said had organized an illegal
unfon ' at the laboratory-and-had led
strikes. ; ; .
he second man'who?Dr: Nalin-said
1if4'd fomented trouble is Brig. M: A.
Choudhry, deputy director, ' who ? was
Pakistan's director general 'ot health
under the late Prime Minister Zulflkar
Ali Bhutto and who, Dr. Nalin said, still
had close ties to key officials in a nurti-:
b e t of ministries. . .
n7i4 situation: worsened 'in' August
vtien Dr. Nalin tried to renew his visa:
Atonepointhereceivedadeath threat . i
c';-,Questions Asked on Guest House "i
.Some weeks laterhe was.visited at his
hdme by men who would - not. identify
themselves but claimed to be Pakistani
itielligenceofficials. He said tbeyasked'
him why only Jewish-scientists-were
.
being invited by the center and why the
'center operated a guest house In a La-
10rre suburb. Some left-wing magazines
ifa'Lahore reported that the center was a
fir nt forclandestineresearch. , . :
't--Then one"day last month,Dr.-Nalin
found a stranger rummaging- through.
office files.'.-He said the man identified
himself as Iona Andronov and presented
i card showing him to be a Moscow-
Based' correspondent for the Soviet
meekly Literatumaya Gazeta. ;:
a He said the man told him he had come
tb` mes gate. a that e a ra-
bty as a Cenntraf elli once envy
it erasion involve i-n biologi wa are
-i`esear o m we.were such a
t6p??secret organization that no'one had
stopped him from coming in and.that all
of our work pis; published in scientific
journals- and - readily available,":-. said
V :'Nali . "I had him escorted.on.atour
es w osco' . ':
Last Wednesday, three days after Dr:
NaTin fert a an; - iteraturnaya
-Gazeta publishe3 alt article saying that
a C.I.A.-backed laboratory 1n Pakistan
-v+as developing virulent str im- of mos.
quitocam diseases. ,
"Poisonersilrom overseas plot to in-
Sect cattle with viruses and then use the
seasonal migration of herds from Paki-
-stan to Afghanistan to start an epidemic
of encephalitis In Afghanistan"the ar-
ticle said.
.:.
Dr. Nalin says that the support of the
Mate Departinenthasbeen_ambiguous.
'fie- said. that while John Brims,. the
Waited States. Consul in, Lahore,'had'
.dpne his utmost to press-for the visa.re-'
ewai; Iower-echelon .personnel.:at. the
'embassy in Islamabad were Inclined to7
"the issue as one of petty jealousies.
26
' Dr. Nalin,.?who spent. eight years
.working at a cholera treatment center
in Bangladesh, said he.had no conitec-'
4km with any Intelligence agency. He
~,esid he thought the Soviet attack on the
malaria center was intended as`an an=-
swer to recent United'States disclosures
concerning the use of "yellow rain"
chemical agents in Southeast Asia.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140091-3