ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said that a four-day high security alert declared at all the airports of the country on Saturday is part of the security arrangements taken for maintaining peace during Muharram.

"There is nothing unusual about it. Security measures all over the country have been intensified to maintain peace during Muharram. We have called out army, paramilitary troops and reserve police to meet any untoward incident and the security alert at the airports is just a part of the exercise," Mr Hayat told Dawn.

The minister denied that the high alert had any thing to do with the ongoing operation in Wana, South Waziristan, or to facilitate any unusual air traffic.

"The whole exercise is aimed at preventing any untoward incident during the month of Muharram and nothing else," the minister claimed.

Meanwhile, a strict checking of vehicles entering parking area of the Islamabad Airport had been launched by the Airport Security Force (ASF) officials.

There was a visible increase in the strength of the ASF officials at the airport and the passengers were subjected to much tougher security checks at scanning machines as well as by those doing body search.

Duty Terminal Manager (DTM) at the Islamabad Airport Amjad Mukhtar told Dawn that the security alert had been announced as part of the routine exercise and there was no specific reason behind it.