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Plot to sabotage independence day party thwarted

Pakistan vows to wipe out terrorism

AFP, Islamabad
Pakistan yesterday vowed to wipe out terrorism as a ruling party politician said security agencies had thwarted a plot to sabotage Independence Day celebrations and attack two cabinet ministers.
"Inshallah (God willing) we shall not rest content till we have completely wiped out terrorism from our midst so that Pakistan becomes a haven of peace and security," Prime Minster Chaudhry Shujaat said in his message on the country's 57th Independence Day.
"During the last few years a conspiracy has been afoot to involve our dear homeland in terrorism, but we are facing the situation with great courage and strength."
Pakistan has bolstered security nationwide for the celebrations amid fears of a violent backlash against an al-Qaeda crackdown, which has netted top operatives in the throes of plotting fresh terror attacks here and abroad.
Security agencies have unearthed a plan to sabotage the celebrations and attack important installations and cabinet ministers, a key member of the
ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
"The plan included attacks on two key cabinet ministers," the senior politician told AFP without naming the ministers or elaborating on the nature of the planned attacks or on the attackers.
"Soon you are going to hear more about this plan when a senior minister will give details at a press conference on Sunday or Monday where names of the ministers, who were the possible target of terrorism, would be disclosed," he said.
A number of potential terrorists, who were planning the attacks, had been picked up by the security agencies from different parts of Pakistan, staterun Associated Press of Pakistan earlier quoted sources within the security agencies as saying.
The terrorists were planning a series of attacks in different cities, it said but did not give further details.
Information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed the arrests of terrorists plotting Independence Day attacks but gave
FROM PAGE 12 no further details.
Authorities have arrested more than 20 al-Qaeda suspects since mid-July.
In Islamabad, where Shujaat hoisted the national flag Saturday morning, police set up special checkpoints and increased their numbers at state installations.
His appointed successor Shaukat Aziz narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber as he campaigned in Attock west of the capital on July 29, less than 24 hours after the announcement of the capture of Tanzanian terror suspect Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.
Ghailani, who is wanted by the US for the 1998 East Africa US embassy bombings, was training a squad of suicide attackers in the eastern town of Gujrat when he was caught, according to investigators.
They were being trained to kill Pakistani leaders, with Islamabad airport and the nearby Chaklala airforce base picked out as assassination venues, intelligence officials have said.
Security forces stood alert in all cities and guarded key government installations, airports, railway stations and bus terminals.
A spokesman of southern Sindh province told AFP the movements of ministers and advisors were restricted after information from arrested militants that they could be target of attacks.
"There was credible information that three to four ministers could be attacked by terrorists in (southern port city of) Karachi," Sindh government spokesman Salahuddin Haider said.
President Pervez Musharraf in a separate message urged Pakistanis to continue working to make Pakistan a modern, dynamic Islamic state.
"We have all the resources and potential to make Pakistan a modern and dynamic Islamic welfare state. We have to demonstrate the resolve," Musharraf said.
Pakistan marks 57 years since Britain ceded independence to the subcontinent on Saturday.
Musharraf and Shujaat also exchanged Independence Day greeting messages with their Indian counterparts Abdul Kalam and Manmohan Singh.
India celebrates its Independence Day on August 15.