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Security up for diplomats after Kabul riots

By Shahzad Malik

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry on Monday directed the capital district administration to increase security for foreign diplomats, especially those from Afghanistan, as well as UN officials.

The ministry issued the directive in the aftermath of escalating riots in Kabul, following reports of a US army truck ramming into parked vehicles.

Concerned over a possible backlash from the riots as well as from a recent US bombing of Al Qaeda hideouts in Kandahar that has so far left 50 dead, the Interior Ministry ordered the district administration and police to ensure adequate security for diplomats and other foreign dignitaries residing in the federal capital.

Sources told Daily Times that an emergency meeting of the relevant authorities had been convened at the Interior Ministry building to discuss security arrangements against the backdrop of violence in Afghanistan. Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah chaired the meeting.

The district administration was asked to stay alert and keep an eye on ‘miscreants’, who could take refuge in the Afghan slums present in both Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

They said that the administration was also asked to visit seminaries, particularly those in rural areas, to check whether anyone other than registered students was hiding there.

The Interior Ministry also directed the district administration to liase with foreign diplomats and provide them with foolproof security if and when they wished to move in or outside the city, sources said.

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