August 8, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: The venue for the flag-hoisting ceremony on Independence Day has been shifted to Aiwan-i-Sadar following intelligence reports that terrorists plan to sabotage the ceremony, an official source said on Wednesday.

The source said that the ceremony would now be held on the fifth floor of Aiwan-i-Saddar instead of the usual venue of Parliament House lawns.

The list of the guests has also been curtailed. Earlier, a list of 1,800 guests had been prepared, but it was later reduced to 750 due to the change of venue. All the guests will have to get a security clearance before entering Aiwan-i-Saddar.

The source said that as part of the security arrangements, police personnel and other law-enforcing officials would be deployed in the Capital 48 hours before the ceremony. They will also be deployed on rooftops of the buildings situated in Islamabad.

Similarly, all provincial governments have also been directed to adopt strict security measures for Independence day ceremonies, the source said.

Intelligence reports indicated that 24 Al Qaeda men and some other people had entered the country to target European embassies, the Indian High Commission and other key installations around the Independence Day. Following the information, the government issued a secret security alert to all provincial governments, chief commissioner of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and local law-enforcement agencies, the source said.