FO rejects reports of China's Wuhan lab operating covert operations in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (92 News) - The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday rejected reports of China's Wuhan lab operating covert operations in Pakistan and creating anthrax-like pathogens as a politically motivated and fake story. In a statement on Sunday, the FO said the story was composed of distortion of facts and fabrications that quote anonymous sources. “There is nothing secret about the Bio-Safety Level-3 (BSL-3) Laboratory of Pakistan referred to in the report. Pakistan has been sharing information about the facility with the States Parties to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) in its submission of Confidence Building Measures,” the Foreign Office said. It added that Pakistan's bio safety lab is meant for diagnostic and protective system improvement by Research and Development (R&D) on emerging health threats, surveillance and disease outbreak investigation. “Pakistan strictly abides by its BTWC obligations and has been one of the most vocal supporters for a strong verification mechanism to ensure full compliance by the States Parties to the Convention,” the Foreign Office noted “The attempt to cast aspersions about the facility is particularly absurd against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need for better preparedness in the areas of disease surveillance and control and international collaborations in that regard, consistent with Article X of BTWC,” it added.