US embassy resumes visa operation

Published July 8, 2004

ISLAMABAD, July 7: The US embassy in Pakistan re-opened its visa section here on Wednesday after a two-day closure forced by security threats but the British high commission remained closed, officials said.

Anonymous telephone calls threatening rocket attacks triggered the simultaneous shutdown of the two missions on Monday. Before the rocket threat, the US and British missions had received several threatening e-mails over the last month, a senior Pakistani security official said.

"The visa section has reopened and normal work has been resumed from today," a spokesman for the US mission said. A spokesman for the British high commission said the embassy was still closed and gave no indication when it would reopen.

"The high commission remains closed today. We want to reopen as soon as possible but we can't say when that will be," spokesman Tim Handley said. Diplomatic sources however said the high commission was likely to reopen on Thursday. Security was beefed-up around the Saudi consulate in Karachi and roads leading to it were blocked after authorities were alerted to a possible threat. -AFP