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LAHORE, Dec 26: Security has been heightened throughout the province in view of a bid on President Gen Musharraf’s life.
A meeting presided over by Punjab police chief Syed Masud Shah on Friday reviewed the situation and the steps to avoid any such eventuality.
A fax message sent by the IGP’s office to all district police chiefs warned that no leniency would be tolerated. Leaves of police officials have been cancelled.
The IGP ordered police to keep an eye on the activists of militant organizations and arrest those found involved in any suspicious activity.
Security in the city was already tight due to Christmas. Foreign missions, mosques, churches, imambargahs and other important places were provided extra security men.
Police in the city and elsewhere in the province barricaded petrol pumps on all major roads besides searching thoroughly every vehicle entering or leaving the filling stations.
“Do these measures make any difference,” Mubin Ahmad, who was among many to protest such security measurers, said after he left a petrol pump on Ferozepur Road.
Special police squads were deployed at entry and exit points of all the major cities. Luggage in the passenger buses, too, was checked by the squads.
Besides, the second class hotels in the city and along highways where the anti-state elements could stay were searched by police. Their administrations were directed to establish the identity of every guest.
Meanwhile, patrolling on the highways was increased and pickets were set up by the police at those places generally used by criminals as escape routes. More police teams were deployed on inter-provincial roads.
PERVAIZ: Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi condemned on Friday suicide bomb attacks on the motorcade of President Pervez Musharraf.
In a statement, he said it was a deplorable terrorist attack which must be denounced in the strongest terms. “The elements involved in the blasts are enemies of Islam and Pakistan, and will not escape justice,” he added.
The chief minister also condoled the death of the government officials during the attack in the line of duty.
Meanwhile, Mr Elahi presided over a meeting to discuss law and order situation. According to official sources, the officials of intelligence agencies attended the meeting.
The chief minister flew to Islamabad in the evening.
According to a Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf press release, party chairman Imran Khan condemned the attack on Gen Musharraf and said it was the result of the unstinted support provided by the government to the US in its misguided war against terrorism.
He said the attack on Gen Musharraf deepened the impression of instability in the country, primarily because credible political institutions did not exist and power rested on the shoulders of an individual.
The PTI chief urged the policy makers to revise foreign policy and should not become a pawn to foreign powers to implement their agenda. “Such a policy has brought only pain and sufferings upon our people. Pakistan should stop acting as a mercenary state and focus more on building credible democratic institutions that could bring long term political and economic stability in the country.”
