Tension increased consider-ably on the streets of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, yesterday as the military government tight-ened security amid fears of a strike on neighbouring Afghanistan by the US.
Islamabad Airport was closed to commercial traffic for two hours for movement of military equipment, it was reported.
Most oil and gas exploration companies, who are among the few foreign investors still active in the country, have instructed their expatriate staff to leave as soon as possible.
They include British Petroleum, which confirmed yesterday that it has sent all its expatriate staff from Pakistan.
British Airways suspended flights to Islamabad after the devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington on Tuesday that killed thousands of people.
The closure of the airport was believed to be the first such military closure since 1998, when Pakistan conducted nuclear tests.
Small units of troops were seen outside some embassies and government buildings and at key intersections in the city.
Police stopped cars entering the main diplomatic area, questioning the drivers and recording their licence numbers.
A military statement issued last night said the overall security situation in the region "with special emphasis on the recent scenario emerging after the terrorist attack on US cities" was reviewed at a special meeting of army corps commanders.
A number of recommendations are to go to a joint meeting of civilian cabinet and the military-led policy-making National Security Council (NSC) for consideration. No details of the recommendations or the date of the meeting were disclosed.
In Islamabad, local people said they feared that a reprisal by the US on Afghanistan would have disastrous consequences for Pakistan.
"I would fear the worst for our country," Mr Tashib Zakir told The Irish Times.
Pakistan is the main backer of the Taliban movement, which controls 95 per cent of Afghanistan and has given a safe haven to the man suspected of masterminding Tuesday's attacks on the US, the Saudi-born dissident Mr Osama bin Laden.
Police and paramilitary guards were joined on the streets of Islamabad by soldiers.
The tension in Pakistan has been increased by the fact that the military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf Musharraf, is coming under intense US pressure to help the hunt for those behind the attacks.
The majority of the population is vehemently opposed to aiding an anticipated attack on Afghanistan.
Pakistan's pro-Taliban Muslim clerics have warned Gen Musharraf against aiding any US retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan. To many, Mr bin Laden is a hero for his anti-Western views.
Pakistan is one of only three countries that recognise the Taliban government, but it denies providing military support to the hardline Islamic movement.
Evacuations of Westerners from Afghanistan continued yesterday, On the border of Pakistan, where the Khyber Pass offers one of the few overland routes from Afghanistan, foreigners trickled across into Pakistan. Most UN staff were flown out on Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday, a convoy of journalists drove to Pakistan from Kabul.
The leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement, Mr Mullah Mohammad Omar, urged Afghans yesterday to boldly face feared American retaliation for terror attacks in the US.
In a message quoted by the Taliban's Voice of Shariat Radio, he said the US was seeking a pretext to attack Afghanistan.
The Taliban militia has been sheltering Mr bin Laden, the prime suspect for masterminding Tuesday's deadly attacks in New York and Washington and previously wanted by the FBI for attacks on US embassies in Africa in 1998.
The UN warned yesterday of further massive population displacement in war-shattered Afghanistan if the US attacked it in retaliation for this week's terrorist assaults in New York and Washington.
The office of the UN Co-ordinator for Afghanistan said in a statement that although all foreign UN staff had withdrawn from Afghanistan as a "security precaution", the UN planned to "continue to provide as much essential, life-saving assistance to the civilian population as possible".
But it said important humanitarian assistance programmes "will not be able to continue if volatility inside the country increases".