ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Security was extremely tightened countrywide on Wednesday after intelligence reports of possible terrorist acts on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks on United States landmarks. However, flags will be flown at half-mast to observe the death anniversary of the nation’s founder, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
President Pervez Musharraf will take part in the special sunset ceremony in New York with other world leaders to mark the first anniversary of the hijacking attacks.
A government spokesman told AFP there were no ceremonies planned to commemorate the attacks in the US.
Intelligence agencies have warned that “terrorist acts” were being planned in coming days to mark the anniversary, police in Lahore and Multan said.
“We apprehend some incidents following intelligence reports of some kind of attack over the next few days to mark the occasion,” Javed Noor, senior police officer in Lahore, told AFP.
Officials in Peshawar have been warned by the federal interior ministry of possible “sabotage or terror” attacks on Wednesday, an official in Peshawar said, requesting anonymity.
The warning said Peshawar was vulnerable to attacks because it was a “war front” city, apparently in reference to its proximity to the border area where the Pakistani army is hunting Al Qaeda fugitives from Afghanistan.
Heavily manned police checkpoints, armed snipers on the roofs of hotels and churches and searches of cars and hotel guests with bomb detectors are now a common site in the country.
For Wednesday, uniformed and plain-clothes police have been posted at sensitive places and bus terminals, railway stations and airports in major cities and towns, police said.
Security forces are maintaining “tough monitoring” of places of worship, religious schools and popular markets.
Police were also keeping a watch on the activities of outlawed militant groups.
Under heavy guard, memorial services will be held by the country’s Christian community.
“The Christian community will offer special prayers for the victims of Sept 11 and those who died in the aftermath,” Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian rights activist who heads the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, told AFP.
The US embassy is planning its own invitation-only ceremony at dusk, but details are being kept secret because of security fears. The US consulate in Karachi, which was the target of a suicide car bomb attack that killed 12 Pakistanis in June and is now operating out of a secret location, was arranging an exhibition of newspaper clippings of the terror attacks.