Safma seminar: Cancelled over terrorist threat

Ssomeone threatened to blow up the venue in a suicide bombing.

LAHORE: A seminar at the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) Centre had to be cancelled on Sunday after someone threatened to blow up the venue in a suicide bombing. After receiving the threat, a heavy police contingent including Elite Force personnel was deployed around the Safma Centre in Shadman at around noon. Safma cancelled the seminar, titled Between Extremism and Democracy: Lessons from the Arab Spring, at around 1pm, four hours before the programme was scheduled to start. Model Town Superintendent of Police Awais Malik said the people who had made the threat had been offended by the topic. He said the area was cordoned off shortly after the treat was received and police personnel were

deployed on rooftops. He said that 50 policemen and five Elite Force personnel were deployed around the centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2011.