Pakistani intelligence agencies have alerted the government about banned jihadi groups' plans to kidnap top leaders and officials to seek the release of detained militants, media reports in Islamabad said .
Intelligence reports submitted to the interior ministry said that jihadi elements, including the al-Qaeda, are planning abductions like in Iraq of senior officials and treasury members of the national and provincial assemblies to bargain with the government for the release of their activists, local newspaper Daily Times, on Saturday, quoted officials as saying.
The reports also stated that jihadis could kidnap army officers and personnel of intelligence agencies, the officials said.
The interior ministry has directed home secretaries and provincial police chiefs, including the Islamabad chief commissioner and inspector general of police, to plan counter-measures, they said.
The security for senior government officials and parliamentarians has been tightened, the officials said. The home department of the Pakistan's Punjab province has also ordered the deployment of provincial constabulary personnel at the houses of senior officials, they added.
