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Shimla gears up to receive Karzai
Onkar Singh in New Delhi |
March 05, 2003 09:37 IST
Security in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, has been tightened in view of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's visit on March 7 and 8.
Karzai had studied in the Himachal Pradesh University in Summer Hills, Shimla.
A K Puri, Director General of the state police, told rediff.com over phone: "Since... there is a threat to his life, we in the state police with the help of the intelligence agencies will take adequate steps to ensure foolproof security."
Due to security concerns Karzai will attend only selective functions.
"As of now there is one official function where he will be given the degree of D Litt. The function is on March 7 at 5 pm. So far a visit to the university is not on our list of his programmes. But in case the president so desires the same would be organised. There is no separate meeting between him and some of the professors who taught him," S D Sharma, Vice Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University, told rediff.com
The Intelligence Bureau, in coordination with the intelligence wing of the police, is busy sanitising the places that the president is likely to visit. "Right from his arrival at the Shimla airport till the time he leave the soil of Himachal Pradesh, the security cordon will be the tightest that the state has ever witnessed," said one official.