Delivery of Swiss anti-aircraft systems halted

BERN—Switzerland has indefinitely postponed the delivery of anti-aircraft systems to Pakistan because of the current situation in the South Asian country, the economics ministry said Wednesday.
The decision concerns 21 vehicle-mounted air defense batteries known as Skyguard, which were approved for export last December in a deal worth 136 million Swiss francs (US$121 million; euro83 million). Six of the weapons have already been delivered, the ministry said in a statement.
A Swiss official said the government acted in response to the imposition of emergency rule by Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Nov. 3. Othmar Wyss, a spokesman for the office in charge of export control and sanctions, cited ``the suspension of the constitution in Pakistan, the removal of top judges and the closure of private television stations’’ as reasons for the move.—Agencies