The government will deploy snipers and hundreds of extra police at churches this Christmas to prevent possible attacks on Christian minority, police said on Wednesday. The bulk of the country’s tiny Christian community lives in and around Lahore, where police said there were 433 churches. “We will deploy 2,500 policemen, including sharp shooters, to provide security to them at Christmas,” Nayab Haider, a police spokesman, told AFP.
“We have placed 38 churches in category A, which are most sensitive, and among them, 20 are even more sensitive as we expect foreigners to visit these churches on Christmas Eve,” Haider said. Traffic would be banned outside these churches, and each one assigned seven policemen and a sniper, he added. “Police will also install walk-through gates at the entrance of all churches to be manned by security staff,” Haider said. He denied there was any specific threat to Christians on Christmas but said precautions were being taken on a “general threat perception”.
