UM MALARIA LAB CHIEF PAKISTAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140092-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: February 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140092-2
STAT
-" ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
THE Si '1
9 Februa r 1982
malario a I b chic J
rakista-h
Mosquito
research drew.
Soviet attack
By John Schidlovsky
New Delhi Bureau of The Sun
New Delhi-Pakistan has forced
the director of a University of.,
Maryland anti-malaria laboratory
to leave the country.
-
Dr. David R. Nalin, a Baltimore-
an who has been director of 'the Uni-
a-versity of Maryland International
Center for Medical Research in La-
-.bore, Pakistan, since late 1979; left 11
:Pakistan at the end of last- month ! 11
when the government-which helps 'j
his visa.
The laboratory has been accused
by the Soviet Union of breeding dan-
gerous "CIA mosquitoes."
In _ New Delhi .: yesterday, Dr.
Nalin said his forced departure was
the work of an orchestrated cam-
paign fueled by Moscow sympathiz-
e rs.
However, Dr. John R. Dennis. the
dean of the University of Maryland
School of Medicine, said in a tele
phone interview from his Baltimore-
::office- that, "the Pakistani govern-
ment did not want to renew his visa If
because of his dealings with Paki- I
stani employees. And, U.S. AID [the
Agency for International Develop-
ment, which also helps finance the
'laboratory's work] thought be was
running around behind their backs
According to Dr- Dennis, Dr.
Nalin made contact with several
Pakistani officials, outside the nor-
mal channels, in an attempt to ob-
tain the renewal. -
Dr. Dennis-said Pakistani offi-
. cials had promised Dr. Nalin a lim
ited visa sometime in the future, to l
enable him to return to finish part
of his work. -
Both Dr Nat?r -A "- ,,.,...:.
come under sharp attack by the Sovi-
et media, which have sought to por-
tray the facility as a tool of American
espionage. .:4
But Dr. Dennis yesterday. seemed
to disagree with Dr. Nalin's assertion
that he was the victim of a Soviet dis-
information campaign. "I think he
might be making too much of this." '
- The University of Maryland and
the government of Pakistan have run
the laboratory since 1962.. Scientists
at the 130-employee installation have
done extensive work on malaria re-
search and have produced a stock of
20,000 mosquitoes -including geneti-
cally altered strains-=for, experi-
ments.
Last week, the Soviet weekly Lit-
erary Gazette charged that the lab
was creating new strains of "killer
mosquitoes" that would be used by'
the Central - Intelligence Agency
operatives to spread diseases into
Cuba and Afghanistan. .
The report, as reproduced by one
Indian newspaper, stated: "Poisoners
from overseas plot to infect cattle
with viruses, and then use the season-
al migration of herds from Pakistan
to Afghanistan to start an epidemic of
.encephalitis in Afghanistan."
The Soviet report went on to
blame "recent epidemics in Cuba" on
the Lahore-bred mosquitoes..
Last year, Cuba charged that the
CIA was responsible for introducing
?dengue fever-a mosquito-borne dis-
ease-into that country.
Dr. Nalin and Dr. Dennis' denied
the Soviet charges.
"I think the Soviets are always
going to try-to discredit us," said Dr.-
Dennis. The dean, who was in Lahore
last month to visit the anti-malaria
lab, said he did not believe the Soviet {
.charges would threaten the future of
the lab.
He said Dr. Nalin would probably
be replaced in Lahore by Dr. Richard
Baker, who is now head. of the De-
partment of International Medicine
at.the university and who worked pre-.
in Pakistan:
_ ....~ ~..~a.e: Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
Dr. Dennis said the University of
Maryland will find' out this month
whether the anti-malaria lab will re-
ceive full funding from AID. The uni-
versity has applied'for $5 million to
help keep the lab open for the next
five years.
In describing his 27 months in La-
bore, however, Dr. Nalin said yester-
day that he doubted whether the Bal-
timore-based lab would be able to
survive what he described as Soviet-
backed attempts to, undermine the
work."
He said the campaign against the
lab has been led by two former Paki-
stani empioyees-Dr. M. Aslam
Khan, a geneticist, and N. A. K.
Chaudhry, an administrative officer.
Each of them had been dismissed, but
continued trying to sabotage the lab's
research work, Dr. Nalin claimed. =
Among the- tactics allegedly used
.by opponents of.?the- lab, Dr. Nalin
s aid, were: =
? Spreading a rumor that 22 pa-
tients at the lab's clinic near Lahore-
had been killed by American medica-
tion. y ~
? Sending a letter to his office-
threatening his life: _
? Bribing patients to say that they .
had suffered adverse drug reactions,
to medication given at the clinic. Onei
? Telling Pakistani villagers that
laboratory officials were suppressing
information about a:-supposed out-
break of yellow fever. In fact, no such
Dr. Nalin.. said ;that in early
December, he walked into his secre-.
th ou
h fil -
g
waging
Nalin asked the.man who he was, the
stranger produced ..-a , visiting card ?,
identifying himself. as Iona Andronovi
a Moscow-based correspondent for.
the Literary Gazette. _:.?..
WJVV7VVVM
2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000201140092-2