NATO's offer for forces deployment in Pakistani quake zone accepted
PakistanTimes.net Foreign Desk Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday said it had accepted an offer by NATO to deploy its forces in quake-affected areas "mainly for reconstruction" of destroyed infrastructure.

"Pakistan has conveyed in principle acceptance of the NATO offer," a foreign ministry statement said.

NATO on Saturday approved plans to send up to 1,000 troops to Pakistan as part of a beefed-up package of help for the quake-hit country "NATO has been informed that the deployment will be in consultation with Pakistan and will be mainly for reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure such as a shelter, hospitals, roads, bridges, schools..." it said.

The Western military alliance would also work for the provision of medical care, as well as for aerial movement of supplies and those requiring urgent medical attention, it said.

Perspective

The NATO force would consist of a reinforced engineering battalion of some 1,000 personnel which would be self-sustaining and fully equipped for the required work, it said.

The force would initially bring four helicopters, and was expected to bring more according to need, a medical field hospital with staff and supplies, and a logistic team for the unloading and loading of NATO planes, it said.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has underlined that the operation was of an unprecedented scale for the 26-nation alliance.

"NATO is not an international aid agency, but the situation is so serious," he told reporters Friday after the extra measures were agreed by NATO ambassadors in Brussels.

NATO agreed earlier this month to a Pakistani request for help after the October-8 earthquake, which devastated large parts of Azad Kashmir and left more than 53,000 dead and some 3.3 million homeless.

The mountainous terrain is proving extremely difficult to cross in a timely way and helicopters are by far the most efficient means of reaching those in need of help.

NATO has already dispatched several planeloads of aid and equipment to Islamabad from an air base in Turkey, some supplied by the United Nations refugee agency.●