KARACHI: Govt officials told to avoid public events
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 18: The Sindh government has restricted the movement of all VVIPs and ministers and instructed them not to attend public gatherings for security reasons in the wake of the Tuesday suicide attack in Islamabad, which killed 18 people and wounded many others.
As a precautionary measure, the function of handing over possession letters to the allottees of plots in Nooriabad Phase–II, on the Super Highway, where Minister for Labour, Transport and Industries Muhammad Adil Siddiqui was to be the chief guest, was postponed at the eleventh hour.
Likewise, a seminar on the Public Safety Commission, scheduled for Thursday in a local hotel, to be presided over by Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, has also been put off.
Informed sources said that following reports that suicide bombers from tribal areas had sneaked into the settled areas of the country, the government had ordered red alert throughout the country and directed the provincial governments to take necessary precautionary measures.
Sources in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement told Dawn that soon after the Islamabad attack, the party taking precautions asked its leaders and elected representatives to restrict their movement.
MQM leader Faisal Subzwari confirmed that the law enforcing agencies had suggested the party to take precautions at its organizational offices and the headquarters.
