Islamabad braces itself ahead of 9/11

Pakistan, a key member of the US-led coalition against terrorism, will be on high alert on 11 September, even though no specific threats are known to the authorities, a senior government official told IRIN on Tuesday. "We have put our security structures on the ground," Brig Iqbal Cheema, head of the national crisis centre set up after 11 September, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. On the eve of the first anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, the Pakistani authorities have beefed up security in all areas considered to be vulnerable, including foreign missions, government buildings, places of worship and markets. "There is no specific threat, but we cannot rule out the possibility," Cheema said, noting that under the prevailing security situation, Pakistan could not "lower its guard". In Karachi, where the US consulate was the target of a deadly suicide car bomb attack in June, an exhibition of photos of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks will be held at the Sheraton Hotel. A spate of attacks on foreigners and Christians soon after the US-led coalition started bombing Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime on 7 October put the security apparatus on high alert and prompted many foreigners to leave the country. Cheema said the state of alert would remain high from 11 September to 8 October. "We cannot be complacent, because we know there is resentment and even anger within the pro-Taliban elements against the government," another security official told IRIN. "Some of these elements have the capability of striking anywhere, and that is of great concern to us." Analysts say Pakistan cannot afford to allow the Islamic militants to indulge in violence, because they were driving crucially needed foreign investment away. "Pakistan has become a victim of terrorism for its support to the war on terrorism," a retired army general, Kamal Matinuddin, told a seminar on counter-terrorism in Islamabad on Tuesday. "Investment is not coming in and more and more foreigners are leaving." Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider was quoted as saying by the English-language daily The News that more than 400 suspected members of Al-Qaeda had been arrested by the authorities since 11 September. He said most of the arrests took place when these suspects were illegally entering Pakistan from Afghanistan through the wide porous border. Many more were arrested in police raids in various towns of the country, mainly from the port city of Karachi, and industrial town of Faisalabad in Punjab Province. "There are still many sympathisers of such elements living underground," a security official, who asked not be named, said. "But our intelligence agencies are working full time to uncover them." Pakistan's Christian community, which has suffered four fatal strikes by Islamic militants incensed at Islamabad's support for the US "war on terrorism", will hold special prayer services. "The Christian community will offer special prayers for the victims of September 11 victims and those who died in the aftermath," Shahbaz Bhatti, who heads the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, told Reuters news agency. Though fundamentalist Islamic groups in Pakistan have failed to muster enough public support to force the government to give up its support for the West, the attacks on churches, the US consulate in Karachi and a missionary school in Murree illustrate the threat these forces pose to the country. But Amir-ul Azeem, spokesman for the country's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, told IRIN that he did not expect any violence or demonstrations on 11 September. However, he said, the government must analyse what it has gained or lost from its support for the United States. "The government of Pakistan must evaluate that there is more restlessness and tension in the world today because of actions Americans took under the pretext of war on terrorism," Azeem said. He said allowing the US to carry on with whatever steps it wanted to take against the Islamic world, particularly Iraq, would lead to further tension and a threat to the Islamic identity. "It is not just Pakistan, but the whole world will suffer if America is allowed to strike Iraq. Therefore, dialogue, diplomacy and conciliation should be the guiding principles to resolve conflicts, instead of bullying and force," he maintained.