U.S. APPLAUDS PAKISTAN'S POLITICAL WILL AGAINST DRUG CONTROL

WASHINGTON -- Acting US State Department spokesman Philip T Reeker,
reflecting US's appreciation over the sentencing of two prominent drug
traffickers by a court in Quetta, has said, "The United States government
notes and applauds the demonstration of political will by authorities in
Pakistan".

Reeker in his statement regarding the sentencing of Sakhi Dost Notezai
Wednesday said, "On April 24, a court in Quetta, Pakistan sentenced two
prominent drug traffickers to life imprisonment. The United States has been
following the case of one of them, Sakhi Dost Notezai, since his arrest in
October 1990 in a Pakistani counter-narcotics operation that seized 1.7
tons of heroin, 7.9 tons of hashish, and 255 kg of opium".

"Notezai, a member of the so-called Quetta Alliance narco-trafficking
network, is the most significant trafficker ever tried in Pakistan's
courts. His case is an important precedent in Pakistan's fight against
narcotics' trafficking organisations. Notezai's case went to the courts in
1993 and he was convicted in 1997. However, through legal manoeuvring,
Notezai had managed to avoid sentencing, a stalemate ended by this
decision", statement added.

He said the United States government had greatly appreciated the
demonstration of political will by Pakistani authorities.