ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: The federal capital administration and the police have taken special security measures to maintain law and order and avoid any terrorist activity in the city on the arrival of US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday, a senior ICT official told Dawn.

In the wake of a shutter-down strike call of the Afghan Defence Council (ADC), the ICT administration has banned the holding of any kind of processions in Islamabad.

Armymen are helping the police maintain law and order during the US secretary’s visit. The army personnel have started patrolling different areas of Islamabad.

The official said the police had started a house-search campaign in all villages and Kutcha Abadis of the city, specially where Afghan refugees are dwelling.

Security has also been enhanced around the Islamabad Airport and the entry of the general public and passenger’s relatives has been banned in the airport’s premises.

Police commandos have been deployed on the rooftops of all buildings near the airport.

The ICT official said police commandos, equipped with sophisticated weapons and wireless sets, had been deployed in all sensitive places. In the commercial places, plainclothes men have been deployed, who are also using sniffer dogs to prevent terrorist acts. The official said the police had stepped up patrolling in sensitive areas. The district administration has already imposed section 144 in the ICT.

The official said security had been tightened in the vicinity of mosques, and bus terminals.