US withdraws diplomats from Lahore Consulate in Pakistan
10 Aug BBC
The US has ordered all non-essential government personnel to leave
its consulate in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
A senior State Department official said the move was in response to a
“credible threat” to the consulate. US personnel remaining in Lahore
should limit non-essential travel within the country, the official said.
On Thursday, the US reiterated a travel warning advising all US citizens
to defer non-essential travel to Pakistan.
“We are undertaking this drawdown due to concerns about credible
threat information specific to the US Consulate in Lahore,” the official
said.An updated travel warning has also been issued,” the official said,
adding that “US citizens remaining in Lahore... should limit
on-essential travel within the country, be aware of their surroundings
whether in their residences or moving about, [and] make their own
contingency emergency plans.”
The travel warning said: “The presence of several foreign and
indigenous terrorist groups poses a potential danger to US citizens
throughout Pakistan.US officials say it is not clear when the consulate
will open again.The US closed 19 diplomatic missions in the Middle East
and Africa on Sunday in response to what it said was a threat of a
terrorist attack.The evacuation from Lahore was undertaken as a
precaution and was not related to the closure of the other diplomatic
missions, AP news agency reported, citing two unnamed US officials.The
Pakistani authorities have been holding the capital on a state of high
alert, especially key Pakistan government installations, the BBC's
Charles Haviland in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, reports.
Britain has travel warnings in place for Pakistan but these are for
specific locations not including Lahore or the capital, our
correspondent adds.The UK Foreign Office said it had yet to decide
whether staff would be withdrawn from the British Council Office in
Lahore but it was closely monitoring the situation.We keep security
measures and travel advice under constant review,” a spokesman said.
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