Security tightened around city shrines

Additional teams of Elite Force and 700 Mujahid squad personnel join vigilance duties.

LAHORE: Meanwhile following Thursday’s terrorist attack, the security around the city has been beefed up as extra contingents of the police have been deployed around sensitive areas specially the shrines in the city. Additional teams of the Elite Force and 700 Mujahid squad personnel joined the vigilance duties on Friday. So far, the police have been unable to ascertain what type of bomb was used at the Haider Sain shrine. Dozens of people had been arrested but most have been released after the questioning.

SP Shahzad Asif told The Express Tribune that security has been increased around shines. He expressed satisfaction that extremists were unable to reach inside the Baba Haider Sain shrine. He insisted that there was no security lapse on part of the police.

He said the shrine was too close to the road. If the police, he added, had cordoned off the road in advance it would have caused havoc with the traffic. He said that the modus operandi of the attack was different from what has been seen in the past.

SP Asif said that it was the first time a small explosive loaded with ball bearings was used. Also, he said, the extremists had tossed the bomb outside the shrine and not inside. He added that police personnel had now been placed on rooftops at and around shrines.

The SP security told The Express Tribune that police personnel had been instructed to be especially vigilant at the eight entrances to the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2011.