Pakistan Defense Sec denies US compound reports at Karachi airport
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Feb 28, IRNA -- Pakistan's Secretary Defense Lt. Gen. (Retd) Asif Yaseen Malik here Wednesday denied report that US Army Corps had been permitted to build a Tactical Command and Operations Center (TCOC) compound at Karachi Airport, local media reported.
A session of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Defense was held here in Islamabad chaired by Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho.
The secretary of defense told the committee that no permission had been given to the US Army Corps to build a compound at the Karachi Airport. He said that the Defense Ministry had taken notice of the project's tender document released by the Engineering Department of the US Army Corps in the Middle East for the construction of the compound.
He added that the Defense Ministry had written to both the US and the Pakistani officials to investigate the matter.
Yaseen Malik told the standing committee that all three armed forces were fully aware of terrorism threats to their installations.
The defense secretary said that Army commandoes have already been deployed for the protection of the Pakistan Air Force and Navy's facilities. He added that steps were also being taken to provide increased security to the Army's facilities and Pakistan's nuclear installations.
Speaking to reporters after the briefing, the secretary defense said that the tender document for the US Tactical Command and Operations Center had been released in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and that that Defense Ministry had nothing to do with the compound or any such project.
He reiterated that the US Army Corps have not been allowed to build any sort of facility at any civilian airport, nor would they be allowed to.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80563512
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