19 March 2004	Friday	27 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, March 18: A three-member team of US security officials held a detailed meeting with Aftab Shaikh, adviser to Sindh chief minister on home affairs, on Thursday and discussed with him security plan for the US consulate.

Inspector-General of Police Sindh Syed Kamal Shah, Capital City Police Officer Asad Ashraf and all the DIGs attended the meeting that lasted for about two-and-a-half hours. The team has specially come from the United States after an explosive-laden van was seized in front of the US consulate situated at Abdullah Haroon Road.

"The US team put forth several proposals for strengthening security at the consulate," Aftab Shaikh told PPI after the meeting. "We have decided to intensify security at the Abdullah Haroon Road as well as on adjacent roads," he added.

Making all these roads safe and secure was necessary as a five-star hotel was also situated adjacent to the US consulate, he said and added that the meeting discussed all these issues because subversive activities in this area had badly hurt the hotel business.

Aftab Shaikh said that timely action by the police personnel in defusing the explosives averted a huge disaster as the explosive material was set to go off after 4.30 minutes. Now the government would ensure that no such terrorist act happened again, he added.